Bad Intentions
by RCap
Summary: AU: (Strigoi Romitri) Rose and Dimitri are on a path of destruction that not only puts those around them at risk, but also themselves. Even with their empire growing, the Parisian Guardians are closing in on them fast – as are their family and friends. But will it all come in time to save their souls? Or will Rose and Dimitri be lost to the depths of damnation forever?
1. Part One: Chapter 1

**_New York._**

The Vampire enjoyed coming to the more _decadent_ establishments that New York had to offer.

She found that the men and women who flocked to these places were the crème de la crème of the day's society. Sure their personalities were a little lacking, but then again she didn't come to these places in hopes of finding anything more than a meal.

The bar had quickly become her favourite hunting ground and she often found herself eagerly awaiting sundown so that she could return to the dark – yet intimate – bar and find another poor soul to capture.

The tinkle of glass on glass filled the small room along with quaint conversation, and the Vampire observed the night's offerings with expertise. She weeded out those who were too desperate to find a bed-warmer for the night, from those who were only looking to get a drink. They were the good ones.

 _The broodier the better_ , she always told herself. The Vampire wasn't ashamed to admit that she had a type. She liked men who were mysterious. It made the hunt that much more fun.

The Vampire set herself into a love seat near the large window that showcased the city's beautiful skyline and waited for her trap to ensnare its first victim. As she sipped delicately on the vodka martini, she indulged herself in casual conversation with some hopeful businessmen.

She found it foolish that her chocolate coloured eyes having rings of crimson red rarely made men second guess her, or that the sharp points of her fangs ever swayed them. If their heartbeats were anything to go by, her vampiric attributes only seemed to make them more carnal over her.

Taking humanity's stupidity into stride, the Vampire had become highly practised in the art of seduction. With her Middle Eastern features mostly still holding even after her awakening, it was all too simple for her. Nothing as beautiful as she could ever be dangerous, right? Beautiful people weren't killers.

Who would expect that the brunette goddess in the black silk dress could be the last thing one of them would ever see again?

Her tactic was to let her prey think that _they_ were in charge, ensuring that within seconds her new target would be jumping through hoops just in the _hopes_ of pleasing her.

Men came and went. Some realized they didn't impress the alluring creature and let her be, but others dedicated more of their time in hopes of convincing her that they were a good choice in partner.

None were piquing her interest though. Not _one_ man that she had seen or talked to even remotely excited her. Maybe she would just pick one and not even bother with all the fun parts of the hunt. Just kill him and move on.

However, just as she was giving up hope that there were any interesting men in the bar, one approached her with a shyness that she found both adorable and endearing.

She could tell he wasn't normally a talkative man. His heart was beating so fast she thought it would flutter away on her. She could smell the nervousness pulsating off him – he held himself differently to the other cocky prospects, which she liked. A lot. _He'll do_.

When she smiled at him exposing a set of perfect teeth and pointy canines, it was like he was thrust under a spell. He was unable to get an opening line out, nor introduce himself to her. He had turned into even more of a nervous wreck than before!

 _This is the one,_ the Vampire thought to herself, letting her eyes rake over the tall muscled man that seemed to ooze class beyond the tension. He was a tad older than her usual prey, maybe in his mid-thirties, but she could work with that.

And she did. The Vampire engaged in conversation that marked the beginning of her hunt. A few light touches to his arm, some hypnotic smiles and even some sexual hints. But just as she was getting ready to move her hunt to a more private location, the elevator above on the landing dinged with the announcement of a new arrival.

As the doors opened, the Vampire's attention was stolen away from the human entirely – not that he noticed. His words quickly became a dull echo to the Vampire, as all of her attention was now solely focused on this newcomer.

She let her eyes take in his form hungrily and she didn't even attempt to hide the smirk that was forming in the corner of her mouth. She began at his chest with his sharp and well-fitted suit. The expensive cut and midnight blue sheen captured her eyes like a moth to a flame.

However, the black leather duster that he wore overtopping of his suit made her raise an intrigued eyebrow. It wasn't a piece that one would normally pair with such a sophisticated suit, yet somehow, he had managed to pull it off effortlessly.

The dark shoulder-length hair framing his face made him appear paler than her. He had such a sharp and stoic structure that she was sure he would crack and break if he so much as twitched a muscle. He could have been made of marble and she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

He looked like the embodiment of some kind of mythical god. Just the sight of the stranger was enough to send the Vampire's heart into a flutter, among other more intimate parts of her.

She would take a stab and guess that he was in his mid-to-late twenties, but that was a vague guess judging by the red rings that rimmed his pupils, similarly to her own. He could have been much older than he looked.

The Vampire didn't know if her newest fixation had noticed her sitting slightly obscured by the dim lighting, but even if he hadn't, she was content just watching him…for now.

* * *

When the elevator doors opened for the male Vampire, the first thing he found himself staring at was skin as white as freshly poured milk; dark eyes ringed dangerously with crimson red; and a smile that was both haunting _and_ enchanting.

He watched curiously as the human beside her described his Wall Street job animatedly, but his words apparently fell on deaf ears.

The dark goddess pushed her hand through the top of her hair, ruffling the controlled brown curls and pouting her blood red lips slightly. He could feel something stir within him, familiarity maybe?

In the second that he stared at her, he felt as if it could have been hours. He felt as if he had been able to study every inch of her in that single second. He couldn't even bring himself to blink in case he missed a microsecond of her.

As he stepped out of the elevator, he undid the button at the front of his suit and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his slacks. Unconsciously, his feet began taking him towards the small staircase down to the lounge. But he had to remind himself that he hadn't come out to socialize with other vampires. He was hungry. End of story.

He studied her for a half a second longer before finally averting his eyes and changing course. He walked along the landing and towards the bar, leaving her below in the lounge but still feeling her eyes burning holes into his back.

Once the Vampire found his seat, he didn't turn again to admire the only other vampire in the bar – but his lips twitched and ears perked whenever he heard her voice. He would even go as far as to say he would smile slightly when her laugh filled the cozy space.

As he stared dead ahead of him at the bottles lining the wall, the image of her sitting in the loveseat in that little black dress danced behind his eyes. The way that the silk clung to her toned thighs, and how the low hanging neckline exposed an overly-healthy amount of cleavage was distracting him from his main reason of being at the bar again.

 _Dinner!_

Yet instead of initiating a hunt, he remained seated as she disguised her own hunt with laughter and chatter. He couldn't help but imagine her twirling her hair around her finger, playing with the locks as she had been doing when she first caught his eye.

Facing away from her was proving to be a challenge. Every time she went quiet or her voice dropped out, the Vampire had to use every muscle in his body to stop from turning and checking to see if she was still there. only been

Maybe it wouldn't be a _bad_ thing if he turned to look at her again though? He could just do a quick turn to make sure she was still there and then return–

 _You sound like you're in love_ , his inner voice groaned, cutting off his deliberations and causing the Vampire to instantly scowl down at the drink in his hands. _How pathetic,_ it continued. _You came here to hunt, and you can't stop thinking about a girl?_

Shaking the judgmental voice from his mind, the Vampire decided that he _would_ do a quick check around the room. Not to spot the other Vampire, but instead in an attempt to scope out any women that he could lead to their demise.

As he craned his neck side-to-side, his gaze however passed over the female Vampire and her cohort again. Unlike when he had arrived though, the couple had since moved closer together. They murmured incoherently to one another as he drew small circles over the exposed flesh of her thigh.

Feeling uncharacteristically jealous, the Vampire found his jaw tensing and his hand tightening around his glass as he locked onto them. He wasn't sure what made him feel like he had some sort of claim over her because, in truth, he didn't. But if the touches and whispers were anything to go by, it was clear the Vampire was going to get a different type of fix before she fed.

 _That_ was what made his blood boil.

Just as the Vampire thought his glass would shatter in his hand, _her_ eyes flicked to meet his own. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and stared intently over at him – not allowing a single moment to even blink. The Vampire was instantly filled with a sense of longing.

He groaned at the emotion filling him that was solely reserved for humans. He hadn't _longed_ for anything since his awakening. He didn't need to. But god, every nerve in his body practically cried for this dark goddess not to leave before he gained the valour to talk to her.

But as she uncrossed her legs and allowed the human to help her to her feet, his entire body crackled with panic. His heart quickened inside his chest, having no doubts that she could hear it as clear as day. Her smirk confirmed it.

The smirk quickly morphed into a final innocent smile before beginning her walk towards the elevator.

The Vampire had stayed stoic and quiet since his arrival, listening to her from a distance. But now he only had seconds until she would be out of reach, and how long would it be before he saw her again? Never? Did she regularly come to this bar? Was tonight a once off?

He watched anxiously as she was helped into her coat and an arm was threaded around her small waist.

He was running out of time, and he knew it.

Just as the pair entered the elevator, she turned and smiled at him. That final smile on her plump lips and the twinkle in her eyes are what snapped his inner rubber band.

Surging forward from his seat, the large Vampire crossed the landing and managed to slip between the automatic elevator doors closed just before they closed. Without even giving the Vampiress' companion enough time to react, he wrapped his large hand around his throat tightly. The human didn't even have a chance to gasp for air before he was being lifted off the ground and shoved into the mirrored wall behind them.

The sound of crushing glass echoed through the small elevator as the Vampire dropped the unconscious body to the ground. A small bloodstain remained on the shattered glass from the back of his head, but both Vampires ignored it.

The female Vampire's eyes flickered down to the crumpled form of her dinner with disdain and mild annoyance, before gazing back up at the male Vampire.

"That was mine," she purred angrily in a voice that rather sounded like velvet to the other vampire, instead of its intended ferocity.

While he had felt a certain level of indulgence in hearing her speak directly to him, the hostility in her voice only seemed to make him regret even entering the elevator. Wasn't she the one that had urged him on since he first entered the bar? Why _now_ was she suddenly so hostile with him?

"Does it look like I care about your dinner?" he growled down at her, his eyes flashing with anger at the irritation in her voice. _How dare she!_

But she was unfazed by his icy glare. She appeared to find it all rather funny very quickly. All annoyance from him knocking her dinner unconscious dropped from her features and instead softened. The quick change in demeanour took the male Vampire by surprise, and he found his own hard features softening and relaxing into the hold her eyes suddenly had over him.

She stepped carefully over the forgotten comatose body, moving closer to him and stood before him, practically sizing him up like a tasty meal. There was complete silence as they looked each other over. Now that she was closer, he could appreciate the curves of her figure and the delicate lines of her face. Simultaneously, they gauged the different levels of both power and seduction that emanated from the other. The only sound inside the space was the soft ticking of the elevator descending down the high-rise building.

"Where do I know you from?" the male Vampire thought out loud before he could catch himself. He could have sworn he had seen her before. Not in person – but he was sure he had at least seen a photograph of her once. There was something about her eyes. The swirls of brown struck something familiar inside him.

"I was the last Dragomir's Guardian," she whispered, seemingly just as entranced as he was.

* * *

The female Vampire was outright stunned at how easily she had just divulged that information about her Dhampir life to this stranger. She hadn't opened up about her previous life for a long time – and especially not to any mysterious Russians who she'd only just met.

But a brilliant smile appeared on his lips. A smile that that reached the edges of his face and exposed his fangs entirely. "Rosemarie Hathaway."

Forgetting her bewilderment, Rose returned his companion's infectious smile and she beamed with pure delight at his recognition. "You've heard of me?"

"Who hasn't? The Princess kicked up a storm looking for you."

Rose closed her eyes and breathed a thick sigh of satisfaction at the memory of her best friend's attempts at tracking her down. When Rose had first been awakened, the Dragomir Princess has enlisted the help of several of their friends from their Academy days. She wanted to 'save' her and end her life like her Dhampir counterpart would have wanted.

But Rose was very happy the way she was, and they'd since given up once Rose had cut her childhood friend's life short.

Mason had only been trying to save her when he'd lost his life at her hands. Foolishly, Mad had tried appealing to a smidge of humanity that he _obviously_ believed might have still lied within Rose. But it was more than easy for her to trick him and lead him into believing his words were _actually_ working.

It was almost as if, four years on, Rose could still feel the bones in Mason's neck snapping in her palms; the choked scream of Meredith as she let his body drop to the ground; and the disbelief in the eyes of her 'friends', as they watched her take her best friend's life, and not even blink.

Rose knew that Lissa still attempted to keep tabs on her whereabouts. But since that night, she had never tried to physically hunt her down again – at least, not that she knew of.

Apparently, all it took was the shock of watching someone they grew up with kill so heartlessly to break them. Who would have thought?

Rose snapped her eyes back open and her head tipped slightly to the side. Her perfectly manicured hands began trailing up the breast of the Vampire's duster before smoothing it over softly, never breaking eye contact. "So, cowboy. Do I get to know _your_ name?"

"Dimitri Belikov," he said softly after a few quiet seconds, his accent coming out thicker than he meant it to.

A flash of heat sparked through Rose's body, reaching all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. There was something about this Russian stranger that was rubbing her the right way.

Dimitri noticed when Rose's gaze flicked to the fixture above the elevator doors, and his body filled with the same panic as it had when he'd seen her move to leave. They were running out of floors before reaching the lobby.

Dimitri leaned around Rose and slammed his palm into the emergency stop button. The elevator jolted to a stop before plummeting the elevator into red-tinged darkness.

He took advantage of Rose's loss for words and threw his entire body at her, crushing his cold lips down to her own and pinning her to the wall of the elevator with his hips.

She recovered quickly from his sudden forwardness and instantly returned the ferocious kiss. She wound the long strands of his hair around her fingers, using it as a leverage to pull him closer to her. Upon running his tongue along her bottom lip, Rose parted like the red sea for him - giving him complete access to every part of her beyond her lips.

As Dimitri's large hands cupped below her ear and the back of her neck, his thumb delicately caressed her cheekbone, sending even _more_ shivers through Rose.

The entire world seemed to fall away around them. It wasn't long before they got caught up in the sheer intensity behind the kiss. Within seconds, the kiss became heated and dominating, and Dimitri's hands began to wander down to the backs of Rose's thighs.

He used his strength and pulled her up to him, allowing her to wrap her legs around his waist. He pushed her harder into the mirror behind her, uncaring of the small cracks that appeared beneath her. He was too captivated by the beauty in his arms to care about something so meaningless as broken glass.

When they eventually tore apart breathless, the air crackled with electricity between them. They both panted with what breath they had as they looked into each other's eyes. Dimitri eventually rested his forehead against her own, drowning helplessly into the depths of brown in her eyes and with an intense tingling remaining on his lips.

Just one kiss and he was hooked.

* * *

Rose wasn't sure she had never been kissed with such raw passion and need before in her life. Sure Adrian Ivashkov had been a good kisser. _Great_ even! But it had been four years since her untimely death had ended _that_ relationship. She had more experiences she could compare to now rather than just Adrian and anyone from her Academy days.

As a free woman once more, Rose hadn't held back in taking whatever – or whomever – she wanted. When she was a Dhampir, she had tried to repress the urges she had felt and instead focused entirely on protecting her best friend. She'd felt a bit guilty for allowing things between her and Adrian to evolve as much as they did, even though she had Lissa's blessing and encouragement. But she'd put sex on the back bench and out of her mind really. It wasn't a concern of hers.

But things were very different now.

She could pursue who she wanted, when she wanted – and explore options she never would have had as a Guardian. After her awakening, the possibilities of what she could achieve appeared to be endless! But nothing had quite compared to _this moment_ in the elevator.

Rose's lips curved into a lazy smile as she felt the thunderous beatings of both their hearts through her entire body. She unhooked her legs from around Dimitri's waist and she dropped back to the ground gracefully, her heels making soft _clacking_ sounds as they connected with the tile.

She reached behind her and pressed the lobby button once more, releasing them from the dark red light and letting the elevator reach the ground floor. She only smiled wider as she watched Dimitri's face contort with confusion.

When the doors opened with a chime, Rose slinked past the unmoving vampire in her path and into the lobby. However, Dimitri was too stunned by her withdrawal from him to follow her physically, only his eyes followed her movements.

She spun on the balls of her stiletto heels to face the still dazed Russian and she flashed the most seductive smile that Dimitri had ever seen. It was enough to stop his heart right then and there.

All the breath in his lungs was ripped away and he was stripped of everything that made him a cruel monster. He was reduced to a mere teenage boy under her gaze, embarrassingly suppressing a groan as she captured her bottom lip between her teeth.

"You coming, comrade?" she chimed in, tilting her head to the side.

Dimitri caught the closing elevator doors and shoved them open again. "What happened to 'cowboy'?" he glared, not liking the new nickname she'd just placed upon him.

Rose shrugged her shoulders delicately. "New York isn't exactly the Wild West – and cowboy is a bit old school, don't you think?"

Dimitri stepped out of the elevator, his eyes passing over the body slowly bleeding out on the tiled floor. Blood was beginning to pool around the head of the young man. Enough blood that _surely_ meant there was so way he would ever be standing upright again.

"I thought you were hungry?" Dimitri commented hastily while raising a brow perfectly and looking back to Rose standing in the lobby.

"He's not what I'm hungry for anymore."

* * *

They threw themselves onto the unused bed in Rose's lavish and large loft, falling with Rose straddling the Russian vampire as she splayed her hands over his bare chest. As her hands explored the ropes of muscle, a strange warmth hummed through the tips of her fingers and stretched up her arms, making her feel oddly whole.

Impatiently, Dimitri began running his hand up her bare arm until he cupped her cheek. Rose instantly leaned into his touch, still feeling that heat.

Dimitri dipped his thumb between her smiling lips and pushed back her upper lip, exposing a single white fang and eliciting a unique moan from Rose which was mixed with a growl.

He brushed the pad of his thumb over the fang, feeling his own desire spike. There was nothing as perfect as Rose that has even been across his lap. Everything from her thighs, to her hips and waist, from her naked chest to the column of her neck had Dimitri's senses overloaded. He didn't know where he wanted to touch her first!

"You're so beautiful, Roza," Dimitri murmured as Rose bared her fangs more boldly this time. Her red ringed eyes flashed with desire. "I've heard stories of you, Rose Hathaway. Cruel yet elegant. But there was something I never understood." He ran his palms down from her cheeks to the tops of her thighs at his sides.

"And what's that?" she smiled down at him, silently revelling in the power that he was unintentionally handing over to her.

"You had the last Dragomir in your hands, and yet you let her live?"

Rose tensed, her entire body locking up as the words left his lips. She knew that word would have spread of her only instance of mercy, but she didn't expect the man below her to bring it up when he was in such a vulnerable position.

"Why would that be any concern of yours?" she growled.

Dimitri shrugged, oblivious to the anger radiating from her. "Others just can't imagine having the last of a Royal bloodline in their hands and just letting her walk free. It makes them think you _owe_ the Princess something."

In the blink of an eye, Rose leaned forward and grasped her small but powerful hand around Dimitri's throat. He hissed softly in retaliation, but he didn't make any attempts in stopping her.

He was sure he would be able to put her in her place, but then again, he was more than happy where he was.

"I don't owe anyone _anything_ ," she growled down at him while attempting to press harder into his throat until he showed signs of struggle. However, no matter how hard she pushed, he didn't splutter with the lack of breath or try to buck her off and strangle her himself.

He just stared up at her unblinkingly. There was something behind his eyes, something that told her he wasn't asking these questions to piss her off or undermine her. He genuinely wanted to know why she had spared Lissa's life.

Sighing deeply, Rose released the death grip she had on Dimitri's neck and sat back again. "A life for a life."

Dimitri considered her words, but without further explanation, he was oblivious to their meaning. The only thing he got from that was while Rose may not owe anyone anything; the Dragomir Princess had still given her something valuable. Whether it was before or after her awakening though, he wasn't sure.

"What could she have done to possess such a favour?"

"In my Dhampir life, I was shadow kissed. I was killed in the car crash that wiped out the rest of the Dragomir family."

"And yet, here you are?"

"Lissa wields Spirit magic. She brought me back, but it came with a cost. It was close to driving me insane before my awakening. All the darkness I took from her was beginning to eat at me."

"You were bonded to the Princess," Dimitri stated, surprising them both with his knowledge. While he didn't know much about the bond, he knew enough to put it all together. He knew a couple in his town that was similarly bound together, but he had never heard the term 'shadow kissed' before.

He wanted to know more.

Rose yelped in surprise as Dimitri rolled them over so that he was nestled in-between her thighs. "You were meant for so much more than just Guardianship. You were meant to be out _here_ , making the world yours."

"The world?" she repeated with a flattering smile.

"We could take it–" he cupped her cheeks– "all of it."

Rose couldn't help but let out a girlish giggle, one that was extremely uncharacteristic for her. She looked up at the man hovering over her with a smile and tightened her legs around his waist.

"You promise?" she purred while lifting her head up so that she was mere millimetres from his lips.

"With all my heart, Roza."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** From this point out, I would like to instil the M-rating for this story. There will extreme scenes of _violence_ , _sexual_ _content_ and just an overall _intensity_ that may not be suited for all readers.

Please continue with caution. There will be _no_ further warnings stating whether a chapter contains violence or sex.

 _Also, a massive thank you to Gigi256 for her incredible wisdom and guidance._

* * *

 ** _Paris, France._**

Rose and Dimitri had wreaked havoc in New York, eventually using the city to its limits. By the end of their four-month-long binge of chaos, they began to find the city dull. They were desperate for a change in pace, but also a challenge.

They had had their fun, and now it was time to get down to business. Dimitri had promised Rose the world, and he fully intended on giving it to her – causing as much damage as possible along the way.

So when Rose mentioned Paris, Dimitri was determined for the scenery change. While neither of them spoke French, they weren't exactly planning on migrating to the city and making friends with the locals.

The streets of Paris were cold for January, but the vampires were left unaffected and instead thrived on the tourist destination that left them with a continuous pick of meals – mostly consisting of the remaining partygoers still hanging around after the New Years season.

Every night, when they left their easily acquired home, they picked their hunting ground at random. They would wander the streets, sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours, until they found somewhere they like the look and sound of.

Following a plan, they would immediately separate from each other and begin to scour the club for whatever their hearts desired for that night.

It was their normal hunting tactic. They would simply separate and reconvene an hour or so later, battling it out for who had found the better prey. But tonight had seemed to go a bit differently. It had been a couple of hours now since Dimitri had arrived at the busy club with his lover, and yet Rose was nowhere to be seen.

Anxiously, Dimitri began looking around the packed club for the wave of dark brown hair that he had come to obsess over. There were many things about her that he had come to obsess about in their time together. But her hair was on the tip of the iceberg that was his obsession.

The way her body moved with his was otherworldly. They had both learned and memorized all the curves and dips their bodies possessed, as well as the small infatuations that they shared. But it wasn't the way she would take handfuls of his hair – just as he would with her – that made him secretly admire her; it was how her cruel mind worked and how she could embody every single dark thought that passed through her mind.

She was truly a visionary, and they were very finely tuned – even if they both hated to admit it.

And they _did_ hate it. Dimitri hated that she had any type of control over him. He hated that she had the ability to make him fret over her, or worry where she was. He shouldn't care, and yet, he did.

So when he finally spotted her, he couldn't stop the sigh of relief that fell from his lips. _There she is_ , Dimitri thought to himself while watching his lover dance.

 _You're so fucking pathetic_ , the voice inside his head piped up. _You get some good sex for once, and suddenly you've got a soul? Pathetic, I tell you. Pathetic_.

That voice was the bane of his existence. The voice that sounded exactly as he did, but judged every single mood he was in or decision he made. The voice had the ability to aggravate him even more than Rose could! That was a feat in itself.

So he instead focused on his lover from a distance as he continued scouting the room for their first victim for the night – further ignoring the demanding voice inside him and putting his full focus on the task at hand.

When his eyes landed on a young couple nestled in the back corner, completely enveloped in their own little world, he knew that he had found the type Rose would love.

Moving his eyes back to the dance floor, Dimitri watched as the masses practically swarmed Rose. She had _easily_ a ten-foot radius of attention. While Dimitri found comfort in watching Rose from afar, he didn't like when her antics brought more on the more _physical_ type of attention.

Dimitri could feel his anger beginning to boil deep within him. He watched unblinkingly as the hands of a human ran up and down the sides of Rose's body. He tried to remember that this was how she trapped her own prey, but sometimes his obsession over her drove him to insanity.

He knew that one of her best hunting tactics was through seduction. But as the heavy bass of the music thundered through the club, his eyes remained glued to the hands that hugged Rose closer and closer – and Rose's head, as it lay resting back against her admirer's chest – looking in his direction.

Burning rage hissed through Dimitri's body like a poison. _No one touches her but me_ , he thought to himself while imagining himself ripping those hands clean off this human's arms. His anger only burned more ferociously as he _knew_ Rose was doing this purposely. She knew it angered him when other men touched her, and she had no intention of this human being her _dinner_ – he was instead her bait.

She smiled over at him, her eyes sparkling with mischief as her tongue ran over the sharp point of one of her fangs. He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of his rage. Sure she would be able to tell he was angry, but he wouldn't give in and cause the scene she so desperately craved for.

But she upped her game. Tilting her head to the side, she opened up a part of herself that was normally reserved _just_ for Dimitri. Watching Rose's hand run up to the nape of the human's neck and pull him to nuzzle into the skin of her throat finally drove Dimitri to his breaking point.

* * *

Rose knew that she had accomplished her task in goading Dimitri the moment she watched his possessive glare snap.

He stormed towards her, his eyes flaring in both rage and annoyance. But she didn't stop dancing. She knew exactly how to get him mad, and when he was mad, he was more fun.

When he'd eventually shoved everyone out of his way and reached Rose, he simply stood in front of her and glared down. She only smiled lovingly up at him though. The pawn she had used in her little game however, _he_ could feel the fury radiating off of the intimidating Russian.

Rose felt him freeze under the weight of Dimitri's glare; he couldn't even bring himself to take his hands off of her – who was quite obviously _not_ his to touch. It wasn't until Dimitri physically pried Rose from his arms that he managed to come to his senses, promptly running away while muttering an apology in French that neither Rose or Dimitri could understand.

Now in Dimitri's arms though, Rose's body hummed with that strange warmth that she only ever felt when he touched her.

She never told him about the unexplained warmth, and she didn't care to know if he felt it as well. But she didn't like it. She didn't like that he had the ability to make her feel whole and even a little elated. That was control over her that she didn't want _anyone_ to have.

In the last four months, the relationship between Rose and her paramour had evolved from one of purely sexual desire to one where they taunted and antagonized each other to their breaking points.

Rose knew that the feelings he dredged up within her were unnatural. She couldn't… _love_. Or at least she shouldn't be able to. But there was something about her vampire beau that made him different, and she hated it.

She hated that he brought that out of her, she hated _him_ for it in fact, and so she took it out on him.

She taunted him with her body every opportunity she could, knowing full well that it angered him seeing other men touch her. But he was just as bad as her. He would do similar, if not worse.

Pushing the thoughts out of her mind, Rose pressed her body against Dimitri's and smiled seductively up at him. She waited for him to fall into the depths of her eyes like he always seemed to do.

"What was that?" he growled down angrily at her, his hands tightening around their places on her arms almost to the point where they should have snapped the bone.

But the pain was nothing to Rose, and she began trailing teasing kisses up her lover's neck until she reached his ear.

"I was just playing," she whispered sweetly with a smile, using her teeth to tug on his earlobe gently.

"We aren't here to _play,_ Roza," he replied stiffly, clearly not wanting to indulge her.

"Sure we are," she laughed, biting harder down to leave small indentations. "Everything is a game."

Dimitri rolled his eyes at her childishness while also repressing the urge to smile. She was infuriating and rash, but she was also the most cunning creature he had ever known. She was exceptional despite her persistent need for games. He loosened his grip on her but didn't push her away. As usual, he couldn't.

"Well if you don't want to play," she hissed angrily. Instantly, Rose's loving gaze morphed into one of annoyance and fury before she spun to walk away from him. She'd just have to find the first lone human that she could find and make her own fun then.

But Dimitri had other ideas.

He reached out before she could get too far away and wrapped his arms around her small waist, pulling her back to him so that her back was pressed flush against his chest. "You're right," he murmured into her ear. "I don't want to _play_."

"Then what did you have in mind, comrade?" she quizzed with a sultry smile, pressing herself deeper into his hold and rubbing herself against him.

Sometimes her personality switched so quickly that Dimitri didn't have a chance to catch up. But he was onto her that night, and he wasn't going to let her get one up on him.

"I found a couple that would fit your liking," he said with a sly smile, bringing his lips down to the curve of her cheekbone and placing a soft kiss upon the pale skin.

"Mm," Rose moaned, sinking into the feeling of her lover's lips. She imagined the couple that he had scouted for them and felt the everpresent bloodlust that burned permanently inside her reawaken.

That was until she caught a new scent – a scent sweet enough to derail her from the simplicity of a human meal entirely.

Rose went stiff in Dimitri's arms, her eyes sweeping the room for exactly where the scent had come from. Even through the throng of people and the overwhelming smell of sweat and alcohol, she couldn't miss the sweet and intoxicating scents of Moroi and Dhampir.

Picking them out of the crowd easily, Rose's eyes locked on the young Moroi woman and her trailing Guardian. But unlike most Strigoi, Rose wasn't fixated on the Moroi. No, she was fixated on her Guardian.

Sure they hunted Moroi blood to keep them stronger and more powerful, but Rose and Dimitri didn't have the same goals as other Strigoi clans did. They didn't strive to wipe out the races of vampire that rivalled their own. They knew well and good from their own pasts as Guardians that it would only be a matter of time before the Moroi died out by their own doing.

The Moroi's incessant need to be protected by Dhampirs and their inability to use their magic for anything more than party tricks is what would kill them. Rose and Dimitri weren't needed in the acceleration of that – they were too focused on a bigger picture.

An army.

An _empire_.

They wanted a legacy in their name. They wanted to be feared all over the globe by not only the Moroi Monarchy but by the human world as well.

They wanted soldiers who were trained and loyal.

They wanted those who put their loyalty and honour above their own lives.

They wanted Guardians. But only the best of the best would suffice.

"I smell something better," Rose eventually purred. She breathed in deep, allowing the honeyed scents to fill her nose and send tiny shocks through her body.

"Shall we test him?" Dimitri growled cunningly as he nuzzled his nose into the crook of her neck. He didn't need to look up to know what his Roza had found, nor what she was planning in her cruel mind.

Dimitri nipped playfully at the delicate skin of her throat, inciting an excited yelp from Rose. They were still standing just shy of the middle of the dance floor, gazing at the Guardian as he assessed everything around him, but they were completely oblivious to anything else around them. They knew that no one would come close enough to bump into them though; they radiated too much power for anyone to _want_ to get close to them.

Dimitri opened his mouth fully, letting his fangs dance across Rose's throat – but not hard enough to break the skin.

"He's young…" she trailed off, tilting her head to the side more as she assessed the Dhampir, giving Dimitri even more access to her throat at the same time. "Most likely fresh out of the Academy."

Dimitri smiled into her neck, placing a soft kiss and finally lifting his head so that his lips were instead by her ear. "We don't know from which Academy, however. There are several better Academies throughout the world, he very well may be an excellent fighter."

"Let's test that theory then, shall we?" Rose smiled, cupping the back of Dimitri's neck and swaying her hips in time with the music around them.

* * *

Guardian Tomás Ferro was a recent graduate of _Redbridge Academy_ in Portugal. His appointed charge was a young water user named Lara Pereira who had, in fact, graduated from the same school and year as he had.

He had no qualms in being charged to one of his schoolmates. But her erratic partying schedule is what began pushing him to his limits.

She had insisted that she wanted to go travelling once appointed a Guardian, and as many of the other Moroi families hoped, her parents wanted a second Guardian to be appointed alongside Tomás, especially if she was going to be travelling. But there just weren't enough Guardians to go round. Only the Royals were privileged enough to have more than one Guardian. Lara was lucky enough to be even getting Tomás.

So, he was now following his charge around as she left her mark in all the major cities in Europe. So far they had stuck to the Moroi owned establishments that had wards fitted and Guardians posted. But tonight was different. She wanted to venture out to somewhere more 'authentic'. She wanted to go where the locals went.

 _"They're the good places._ " That was what she had told Tomás, much to his annoyance. He would never dare try to dictate his charge's choices, but he had wished she had of picked a safer venue – one where he would be able to protect her with more ease.

As soon as Tomás had walked into the club, he knew something wasn't right. There was something that hung in the air around them. It clung to his skin, like a film of dirt coating him. He scoped out the crowds, his eyes running over the couples that were dancing and to those who were dangerously close to breaking France's laws on public sex in the far corners.

But as his charge relaxed into the environment, Tomás just couldn't shake the feeling that someone was looking at him. He turned constantly, trying to catch whoever it was that he felt was staring at him, but he ever found them. At least not until it was too late.

The dread slicked over Tomás like an icy chill. Like any good nightmare, it didn't matter when he ran because it would keep on coming just the same.

Tomás had never seen a Strigoi in real life before. So when he had found the source of his unnatural easiness, the culprit took him by surprise. His height was like nothing he had ever seen before! How could Tomás even fight something that towering? Were they _all_ that tall?

His best plan of action was to just get him and his charge _out_ of the club before they were spotted. Of course, that only worked if they hadn't already been seen.

His charge almost didn't believe him. But when she caught sight of the man with long hair and red-ringed eyes she froze with fright.

Lara, like Guardian Ferro, had never _seen_ a Strigoi before. But she trusted the intense training that was pushed upon the Dhampirs at the Academy. She had seen how they fought and trained. So she followed every direction her Guardian gave her and allowed herself to be quickly guided out of the club and onto the deserted street.

Although, the street didn't feel any safer than the club had. But the muffled sounds of music were oddly a small comfort. There was no clarity in the music, meaning they hadn't been followed out the door.

Tomás ushered his charge forward, urging her to start walking faster towards the SUV he had parked down the street, while he kept an eye out for if the Strigoi inside the club emerged.

But he had been watching out for a man, however. So when a woman with similar demonic features wrapped a hand around his neck from behind, he didn't know how to react. He was as stunned as his charge had been inside the club.

As the female's hand began to tighten and crush Tomás' throat, the Strigoi from inside the club appeared and made a beeline for his charge.

"Lara!" he called out, hoping that she would turn in time to see the same man from the club come up behind her. But the monster was too fast and he had one hand wrapped around her throat, and the other over her mouth before she had even heard Tomás call her name.

Tomás watched in horror as his charge was picked up and dragged off the main street. Her legs thrashed and he could hear her screams underneath the Strigoi's hand as she tried to struggle free, but he was too strong – and Tomás was practically powerless to help her.

He guessed that his captor had been a seasoned Guardian before being turned. She was strong and he could tell that she was trained. She could have easily thrown him over her shoulder like a damsel in distress and he would have been helpless. But she didn't. She just dragged him the similar path her partner had towards the dark alleyway adjacent to the club.

Tomás watched in disbelief as Lara was thrown roughly to the ground like she weighed nothing. She rolled a few times before clambering to regain her footing. Tomás received the similar fate of being released at the end of the alleyway, however, his Dhampir reflexes were enough to keep him standing instead of tumbling to the cement.

He watched Lara stumble to her feet in his peripherals while facing up the Strigoi blocking their only exit.

It was only a thin alleyway. Nothing more than a mere gap between the club and the commercial building beside it. But he could tell the buildings were old and it made the alleyway more cold and uninviting. Not that Tomás had ever found an _inviting_ alleyway.

Both his and Lara's breath came out as erratic clouds of hot smoke, while the breathing of the undead vampires blocking his path, made none. It was only further proof of how unnatural they were. They breathed it seemed, but they didn't display normal reactions to even the most natural bodily function.

Now being able to see the pair clearer, Tomás was able to fully take in the strength that radiated from them. He could confirm his theory of them both being Dhampirs before being turned, but it also seemed they would have been quite young. They would have looked no older than their mid-twenties! The male's height and build were incomparable, and though the woman was small, she conveyed something slightly different than the man.

Tomás established her at the major threat straight away.

Most Guardians would assume the male would be the most dangerous, but Tomás could see the glint of impulsiveness in her eyes. She was a loose cannon. Unpredictable. It made her dangerous.

" _Stay behind me,_ " Tomás commanded in his Portuguese tongue to Lara, holding her protectively behind his body as he crouched into a more defensive position.

The female Strigoi's face lit up with a beaming smile. "Did you hear that, comrade?" she cooed. "Portuguese."

The male countered her smile as if they were sharing an inside joke. The smile made Tomás skin crawl and his blood run cold. He was in trouble and he knew it.

He reached into his holster, pulling out the silver stake and holding it defensively at his side. The moonlight reflected off of the silver piece, creating a stream of light for a mere second and it seemed to be enough to distract the Strigoi for the second he needed.

He pounced at the female, stake aimed at her heart and determination running through his veins. He watched her get closer and closer, but yet her expression didn't sway from smug.

Before he could figure out why, Tomás was thrust onto his back; a sickening crack echoed through the alleyway, which he couldn't determine came from him or the ground beneath him. All he could feel was the cold hand around his throat and the crushing of his windpipe.

He looked up and into the red-ringed eyes of the male Strigoi and pushed back the sickening feeling within him. He didn't want to get sucked into the fact that those eyes had once belonged to a Guardian such as himself, and that there was most likely a person in there that would never be released. He didn't want to humanize the creature, because that's when he would falter.

As much as it unnerved him, Tomás knew he was about to enter the fight of his life.

Adrenaline suddenly coursed through him like a blazing fire and he kicked up while slashing out with his stake. The silver just missed the Strigoi, but his feet connected with his chest and he pushed with all his might.

While the Strigoi stumbled back slightly, it had hardly been a troublesome hit to him. He only grinned at Tomás, not retaliating again.

He watched the Strigoi pair exchange a look of enjoyment before they both turned to face him. They simultaneously crouched and branched out, flanking him and forcing him to pick between protecting his left or right side.

After a moment of circling, the female attacked. Her fists and body moved at impossible speeds as she laid out a full-blown attack. Every time her first connected with a part of his body, it felt like a ton of bricks had slammed into him. Whenever he managed to land a kick, it felt as if his bones were breaking.

But despite the pain, he kept up. He blocked her as much as he could and even managed to slash her forearm with his stake.

Fresh and dark blood gushed from her wound, but she didn't react as he had expected. She hissed at the contact, but that was the extent of any signs of discomfort. Even her counterpart was impressed with the suppression of her pain.

But Tomás' hesitancy is what cost him his life. He was too shocked by the silver not having the effect his teachers told him it would, to notice the male Strigoi coming up behind him and gripping his neck and torso tightly. He heard the distinct clatter of his stake dropping and instantly knew his fate. This was the kind of situation the Academy taught him to not get into. This was the position he knew he wasn't going to come out of alive.

 _But Lara still has a chance. They haven't remembered her!_ Tomás thought to himself, and as the male Strigoi jerked his head to the side so that his neck was fully exposed to his cohort, he was faced directly with his frightened charge.

" _Run,_ " he yelled at her in Portuguese, hoping that she would snap out of her fear-induced trance and listen to him. It was her only chance.

The hesitation only lasted a second before she ultimately followed her Guardian's order.

She took off in the direction of the main street, feeling the eyes of the Strigoi follow her for a moment before they refocused on her entrapped Guardian. She looked back just as the female's fangs sunk into the young Guardian's throat.

* * *

 ** _Novosibirsk, Russia._**

The Moroi man was sitting in his back of his town car, flipping through the assortment of photographs in his hand.

The images were filled with his own flesh and blood killing effortlessly and happily. It wasn't a sight he ever thought he would see, but it had been his harsh reality for over four years now.

But he was sure that he had found a way to help her – to _save_ her. But he needed help and he knew exactly who would be willing to give it.

It didn't take long to reach the outer city suburb, which housed a small assortment of Moroi families. There was only one house out of the small collection that he was interested in though.

He shoved the photos back onto the envelope before sliding out of the vehicle. Standing in the brisk cold, he redid his suit jacket's button before setting his sights on the home placed in front of him.

The red brick house seemed homely. Nothing that the Moroi man would personally live in, but it did have a nice touch to it. A touch that he could see blending in and ensuring the Vampire living inside didn't draw too much attention to himself.

Being part of a Royal bloodline, the owner of the quaint house would normally be much closer to the rest of his family and in a much larger group. But it was evident, that he believed the wards around his property and his two Guardians were more than enough protection.

He was a rarity, this Royal Moroi. He was one of the few who used his magic to fight alongside his Guardians. Although, this had come too late for his first Guardian who had been killed two years prior in the line of duty.

The middle-aged Moroi man sauntered along the path leading to the front door, the heels of his dress shoes clicking against the pavers and his breath coming out in thick puffs as the temperature began to plummet around him.

When he reached the wooden door, he rapped his knuckles on it quickly and waited patiently for it to be answered. The door slowly swung open, revealing a familiar young Guardian with her long light-brown hair tied into a stiff ponytail.

"Good evening," he smiled brilliantly. "I'm here to see your employer."

The Dhampir seemed to give him a once over; looking over his lavish and eccentric lime-green suit matched with a fedora and purple silk scarf. Did she really not remember him? He surely remembered _her_. Maybe she was too young to put the pieces together. Alas, all in due time.

Deeming him harmless enough in a sense, the Guardian took her hand off the hilt of her holstered gun. She was still hesitant to let the stranger fully into the house, however.

It was not hard for the Moroi man to see her hesitation. He could see it as she looked him up and down, and even when she peeked around him to see his own Guardian standing a few meters back.

Knowing that she would require more than a smile to ease her suspicions, he pulled the yellow envelope out from the inner pocket of his suit jacket and held it up so she could see the written surnames on the front.

"I have something he may be interested in."

The Guardian narrowed her eyes slightly at the envelope, trying to read the cursive font from a small distance. When she recognised one of the names, she tried her hardest to not let it affect her stoic demeanour.

Opening the door wider, she allowed the stranger entry into the home.

The house was quiet, apart from the three sets of shoes against the hardwood floor as they made their way through the home. As they walked, the Moroi man kept his eyes fixed ahead, a look of determination plastered on his face and his heart beating with anticipation.

The Guardian opened the wooden double doors leading into a large library. A fire roared hungrily against the far wall and illuminated the room with an orange hue while the Lord of the house sat in a reading chair with one knee over the other, his chin resting in his hand and his nose in a book.

He shifted his eyes upwards to gaze at his visitors and recognized the fancily dressed Moroi instantly. A small but smug smile began to form across his lips, as he knew this not so strange stranger wouldn't have come all the way from Turkey for just a social call.

He closed the book with a dramatic _snap_ and lifted his head to give the newcomer his full attention. He watched in his peripherals as his own Guardian flanked his side, much like his guest's had been doing since passing the home's threshold.

But without uttering a single word between them, the extravagant Moroi handed over the envelope and beckoned for his blond counterpart to reveal its contents, knowing full well how much of a shock the images would be to not just him, but also the Guardian that hovered slightly over his shoulder.

The second that the photos hit the light, the Dhampir woman let out a small gasp of shock, as did her boss. He flicked furiously through the assortment of images before landing on the most archaic one.

"Where were these taken?" the Lord asked, not lifting his eyes from the photos.

"Paris. Two days ago."

Taking a deep breath, he proceeded to place the photos back in their paper cage, hoping, but not convinced, that he would never have to see their contents again. He threw them onto the coffee table in front of him and gazed up at the Guardian to his left.

"Looks like we have a Princess to see."


	3. Chapter 3

**_The Royal Court, Pennsylvania._**

There weren't many nights that Edison Castile didn't dream of his two best friends and the nights that they had died.

It was a well-known statistic that Dhampirs had short life spans. There had never been anything but complete transparency surrounding the mortality rate around Dhampirs in service, and most importantly, the high death toll of specifically _young_ Dhampirs.

During their final days at the Academy, Guardian Alto had told the entire class to take a long look around the room. He told his students to memorize each and face and recite every name. Why? Because in as little as five years more than half of those Dhampirs would be dead.

It was morbid, but it was the world they lived in.

Eddie had taken the exercise seriously. He already knew the Novices that he had grown up with, but thinking of them as a statistic was something he had never done.

He'd never thought that Stan would have been right. Eddie never thought that at the age of twenty-four, he would be only remaining one out of his trio. Rose and Mason had been at the top of their class for as long as he could remember. But both his best friends were part of that statistic.

Eddie's dreamed every night about how he could have possibly prevented their deaths. He had been there during both of their final moments, and his dreams always taunted him with ways he could have saved them. He could have jumped in and helped Rose fight off the Strigoi that had encircled and closed in around her. He could have defied a direct order for him to get their charge to safety. Instead, he had listened to her and left her to die, whilst he got Lissa and himself out of harm's way.

But the night that she had murdered Mason was his greatest shame. He blamed himself as much as he blamed the monster walking around in Rose's body. He knew that Mason was getting too close to Rose, but he too had thought that just maybe Mason's words were actually getting through to her.

It wasn't until Mason had gotten within arms length that he noticed the glint in her eyes. He knew that mischievous gleam anywhere. He had seen it countless times in the Academy whenever she was planning something.

There was no chance that she was only planning one of her pranks though. No, this glint told Eddie that all Rose was hearing was Mason's heart beating and his blood pumping. His words were _meaningless_ to her.

The amusement that had been in her eyes would haunt him for the rest of his life. He knew it wasn't really her in there. It couldn't be! He knew the real Rose and she would never have done something so cruel and laughed about it.

But the monster wearing her face had, and the Rose he grew up with wasn't coming back.

He thought about going after her and making good of the promise the trio had made before graduation. But there lay two obstacles in his way. One was that nobody had heard about her location her in years. She had just…disappeared.

And two, after her death, Eddie had been made the Princess' head Guardian. There was no way he could leave the side of the woman Rose had dedicated her life to. He wouldn't insult her memory like that.

Many thought that Rose might have been killed in the years that she had been unheard of, Eddie however, wasn't the only one that knew she was still out there. Rose may have been rash, but she was smart. As a Strigoi, she would only be twice as rash but also twice as smart.

* * *

 ** _Maison de ville._** ** _Paris, France._**

The sun was at its peak in Paris, illuminating the city in a warm glow despite the cold wind.

Nestled in a small suburb just west of Paris, was a twin story dwelling that was quiet and completely blacked out.

The humans who lived in the neighbouring apartment complex found the activity of the home strange. The curtains were always pulled shut and only a few had ever seen anyone leave or enter the previously sparse home.

But every so often, the sounds of smashing glass would echo through the quiet street. Yelling in different languages was also becoming common, however, none were French. As quick as the arguing would start, it would be over with nothing to be heard again for several hours.

Inside, soft moans echoed from the top-level master bedroom down to the main floor. Sitting at the breakfast bar surrounded by shattered ceramic plates and glasses, Tomás scowled at a small beam of light that had managed to peek past the thick curtains.

From his very first night under Rose and Dimitri's roof, he was aware he had been brought into a messed up affair. He would sit silently as his creator and her lover would argue, throwing anything they could get their hands on at each other. But he never worried. Sometimes it was within seconds of the first plate being thrown, that Dimitri would have her slammed up against a wall and ready to rip her head off.

But he never did.

Tomás thought it was as if they hated each other until they touched. They could spit insults and lash out at one other, but as soon as one _laid_ a hand on the other, everything changed.

Tomás knew it was toxic, but it wasn't his place to say anything. They had eternity to figure their problems out. He wasn't about to lose his head because he tried to tell the Russian how to hold a relationship. Hell, Tomás had never been in one himself. He wasn't in _any_ position to be giving out advice.

So, while his bosses 'worked' at their problems and the other newly awakened recruits antagonized each other, _he_ stared at the beam of light as it moved throughout the day. It wouldn't be until that golden beam would become a burnt orange colour that his heart rate would quicken with excitement and his feet tap with impatience.

 _Finally!_

The hours where he could do nothing were torturous. Sure he could watch TV, but then again he couldn't speak French and even his English wasn't great, but it was good enough for Rose and Dimitri.

* * *

Rose and Dimitri had been in their own world for hours.

Immediately following their meaningless argument, the sexual tension between them had boiled over. All Rose had wanted was for him to push a little more. She wanted him to show more of his inner beast.

Rose knew from the moment that Dimitri had slipped into that elevator all those months ago, that he was going to be raw, and they were going to be ugly. But she was going to enjoy every single second of it.

She got what she asked for when he shoved her against the wall, putting a gaping hole in the plaster and alighting her desire like gasoline to a fire. At that moment, she didn't give a _fuck_ that Tomás was sitting at the breakfast bar, watching them curiously.

She wanted him, and what Rose wanted is what she got.

Sex had always been a power play to her.

When she was in her teens, she could use her still pure body to get anyone to do anything for her. She hadn't given herself to anyone fully until Adrian came along, and even he was no exception to the spell she could cast.

Now with Dimitri, she had met her match. Every move she made, he attempted to best her. They were in a constant war with one another, using their bodies to make the other succumb to them.

When they had really riled one another up, their sex was beyond anything either of them had experienced previously. It was rough and passionate. It was an exact replica of the anger that burned through them as a fuel.

Rose held a certain control of Dimitri, and she exercised that power to its full potential whenever she could. When she was atop of him, she could use the powerful position to bend him to her will.

She liked to set her own pace, her own rhythm. She used him as a tool in her pleasure and she loved it. If anything, that power he handed over to her was enough to induce something so pleasurable that it could bring her to her knees.

Rose would bring herself down on him hard, making full use of his body. Bracing her self against the strong muscles of his chest, and creating a demanding pace that only one with Strigoi stamina could keep up with.

She could see the fire in Dimitri's cold eyes as she rode him. The lust that burned so brightly that it was almost blinding. Every now and again, he would raise his hips and buck into her deeper, making her cry out.

While Rose thought that her power laid with her position, Dimitri's lay in what he did to her. He didn't need to be on top to have power over her, he could do that with a stroke of his hand, a rolling of his hips and a kiss. He had a more subtle power over Rose, and he was determined to keep it that way.

Coming back to herself after a powerful orgasm, Rose eased her body off of the Russian between her thighs and lay flat on her back next to him. The comedown from their highs were the only times they showed that they somewhat _cared_ for one another.

They never said anything either. But Dimitri would lace his fingers with hers and bring them to his lips, kissing them softly and carefully as if she would break with any forcefulness.

* * *

Tomás paced anxiously behind the breakfast bar, waiting for the superior vampires to come downstairs. He had waited all day to finally go outside, and now that the sun was officially down, the excitement flowing through his veins would be enough to kill someone.

Other than Tomás, the only Guardians that had passed Rose and Dimitri's test had been women, leaving Dimitri and Tomás outnumbered _two to four_ and taking care of actual business while the women went deeper into the city.

They were splitting up tonight. Rose was taking the other females hunting to teach them how to use more than just their brute strength to hunt. But Tomás was genuinely excited about Dimitri's version of a lesson. They were also going out, but they had a different agenda; one that would be the headway of their entire Empire. It was all well and good to awaken Guardians, but not much could be done without a dependable source of money.

When Tomás eventually heard the clicking sounds of his creator's stilettos against the marble steps, he halted his pacing and waited patiently for her to round the corner into the kitchen.

As she stalked into the kitchen, kicking broken ceramic effortlessly away using the toe of her shoe, Tomás was left frozen in place. Whether it was fear or attraction that had him immobilized, he wasn't sure.

Tomás' eyes travelled over her long brown hair that cascaded down her back like a dense waterfall, before watching and almost adorable scowl spread across her features as she struggled with the backing of her earring openly.

Appearing closely behind her, the angry Russian with a more _permanent_ scowl carefully stepped around the ceramic Rose had kicked.

In the week since his awakening, Tomás had noticed a lot of things surrounding the couple. They were almost the complete opposite. While Rose was a ball of chaotic energy, Dimitri was more of the brooding type. He had only seen the vampire smile once, and it had been while his lover explained something excitedly to him. The smile had slipped in when she wasn't looking and disappeared just as quickly when she turned back to face him.

It didn't take a genius to see that underneath the raw animosity between the two vampires, there was an underlying devotion to each other. Even through his scowl, Tomás could see the glimmer in Dimitri's eyes when he looked at Rose.

There was a lot about both vampires that he didn't know. The extent of his knowledge was that they both used to be Royal Guardians. They had died protecting the most hunted.

Dimitri took a seat at the breakfast bar, staring blatantly at the newly awaken Strigoi as he practically _gawked_ in his lover's direction. He wasn't the only one to see or sense the almost craving look Tomás was giving off. Rose herself, had caught it as well.

But instead of trying to intimidate Tomás, like her counterpart was, Rose simply smiled sweetly at him and dropped her hands to her hips.

"See something you like?" she whispered lustfully.

Tomás' eyes almost bugged out of his head, and he quickly averted his eyes down to the benchtop. He could feel the fiery stare coming over the bench – a low growl also emitting from the same direction. Tomás instantly knew that it hadn't been just Rose that had caught him staring.

Dimitri could feel the small smidge of fear that pulsed from the underling. He held claim over Rose, and he'd be dammed if he let anyone try to undermine that claim.

He soon felt his lover's hands glide over his shoulders; swiping over his collarbones and then snaking together overtop his chest. "Shh," she hushed in his ear, her lips grazing over his skin as she hushed him.

Rose knew Dimitri's possessiveness would only get worse the more they expanded. But she had to make sure that her lover kept a level head in the early days. Once they expanded and had enough expendable soldiers, he could kill anyone he wanted. But for the moment, Rose preferred he didn't kill everything that looked in her direction.

Turning away from the extreme show of testosterone, Rose walked out of the kitchen and towards the entryway of their home. They had a lot of work to do tonight.

As she walked away, Tomás couldn't help but let his gaze drop to her exposed back. The dress that Rose had picked to wear tonight exposed skin that Tomás hadn't seen before. His eyes lingered on the slashes of purple that marred her white skin.

 _Scars_ , he thought to himself as he stared at the now empty doorway.

The claw-like scars appeared along the right side of her ribcage and part of her lower back. They disappeared underneath her dress, only just peaking past the material to be considered exposed.

Once Tomás knew Rose was out of earshot, he looked to the man who he knew had seen every inch of her bare skin. "Who gave her scars?" He asked in broken English.

Dimitri's scowl twitched, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth as he intrigued Tomás with a few small words. "What do you know about Psi Hounds?"

* * *

The club was loud and vibrating with energy.

Every thump that came from the large speakers flowed from the bottoms of the vampire's feet and reverberated through their bodies. Their senses were assaulted with the smell of alcohol, sweat and cheap perfume. Not a good trio. But they had a vision to look towards; they couldn't turn back now because they didn't like the _smell_.

"Go get something to eat," Rose commanded to her soldiers, letting them loose on the unsuspecting crowd. They didn't question her and instantly dispersed, fanning themselves into the packed club.

Smirking to herself, Rose made her way to a small flight of stairs that led to a landing which looked over the club and was filled with closely packed booths. The elevated floor was the perfect vantage point for Rose. She could see everything _and_ everyone.

She leaned forward onto the glass barrier, watching as her wolves stalked through the club, picking their prey for the night carefully. Watching how they had taken in her lessons, she knew she had found the perfect foundations in not only these women, but also in Tomás.

They had all loyally protected their charges despite seeing their own deaths in the reflection of her eyes. That kind of loyalty is what they were looking for and what she wanted. That level of loyalty deserved to be rewarded with the eternal gift her blood could give! And they were learning fast, meaning Rose didn't have to be on babysitting duty whenever they left the walls of the house.

Gazing briefly around the floor she was on, Rose caught sight of a young blonde sitting alone in one of the booths. She was nursing a cup, her knee bouncing nervously as she looked blankly ahead.

Rose could practically smell the small human's awkwardness, and it drew her towards her. Sparing a final glance down to the main floor, she moved onto her own hunt. She walked up to the young girl and slid into the fake leather seat next to her, nudging her shoulder with her own and smiling kindly at her.

"You look troubled," Rose half yelled so the stranger could hear her over the music. "Want some company?"

* * *

 ** _The Royal Court, Pennsylvania._**

"They won't help. They will just take the information and save the girl."

It had been a somewhat long journey from Russia for the Royal Moroi. From the moment that he and his Guardians had left their home, his near guard had been in his ear about the intentions of the Princess and her inner circle.

He liked to think he knew better though. He knew of the Princess' kindness and her love. If he weren't so in love with the Dhampir woman beside him, he would have scolded her for her abrasive words against the Princess. But he knew she was just worried.

"Don't think like that, _milaya_ ," he sighed, rubbing his temples and closing his eyes tightly. "They won't let us down."

The Dhampir woman huffed, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly and looking out the window of the SUV.

She had only ever been to Court once before to receive her allocation. The place hadn't changed much from what she had seen so far. When she had been a Novice, she had dreamed of coming to Court, but she had been sorely disappointed when she had arrived – it was no different the second time around.

There was something about Court that made her feel like she was in a prison. While they were free to go whenever and wherever they wanted, she just couldn't shake that feeling of entrapment.

Sensing his beau's worries, the Moroi reached over the seat and gripped her hand tightly before bringing it to his lips. The affection relaxed them both and she gave a small smile before looking back out of the window.

The SUV eventually pulled up in front of a recently built townhouse, one that was so new, he could almost smell the fresh paint. He was fully prepared for his pitch to the Princess, but now that he was there, he couldn't stop the sudden nerves from crashing through him.

There were only so few who were able to accomplish what he needed. He needed to get this right the first time.

He had never met a Spirit user before, and he certainly wasn't expecting to find out there would be in fact, _two_ of them, in the same place and at the same time. He had had a whole plan thought out, giving the Princess time to recover between the restorations, but that resting period could give Dimitri a head start and even a chance at dangerous retaliation, putting not just one person in danger, but several.

However, upon finding out that the Queen's Great Nephew, Adrian Ivashkov, also possessed the magic he was searching for, he realized that they could all get back their loved ones in one night.

Providing everything went to plan.

The Moroi and his two Guardians waited patiently as a flurry of activity occurred after his knocking. Within seconds, a Guardian opened the door. A tall man with what you would consider dishevelled blonde hair and sad eyes greeted him instantly.

"What can I do for you today?" he asked politely, somehow recognizing the man standing before him as one of Royal blood.

"I'm here to see Vasilisa Dragomir – providing she's available."

The Guardian raised an eyebrow at the thick Russian accent of the newcomer, before switching his gaze to the man and woman flanking either side of him. His eyes eventually dropped to the large yellow envelope in the Moroi's hand, and he came to his own conclusions.

He had seen countless similar envelopes over the past four years. All with clues that lead to nothing, just images that distressed his charge further, and pushed her already fragile state closer to breaking point.

Sighing discretely, the Guardian opened the door further and stepped aside. He nodded to the equally stern Guardians and ushered them into the large sitting room.

The Royal Moroi was slightly taken back by the mix in company the Princess had. While there was no doubt that the man who let them in was one of her Guardians, there were other Dhampirs in the room that seemed to have no qualms about relaxing in the presence of a Princess.

But once they realised they had visitors, everyone seemed to tense, almost as if they were anticipating some sort of danger. When the Princess rose from her seat on the couch, most of the room follow suit. Two other Dhampirs, one male and the other an older female, flanked the Princess protectively – easily established them also as _her_ Guardians, as the newcomer approached their charge confidently.

"Princess," he began, bowing slightly. "It's an honour to finally meet you."

"Call me Lissa," she smiled sweetly at him, her jade coloured eyes twinkling at him. "What can I do for you, Mr.…?"

"Zeklos," he beamed, "Ivan Zeklos."

Ivan could feel the room's temperature plummet when he revealed his name. He knew it wouldn't be anything to do directly with him, but he couldn't help but worry about what someone with his family's name had done to this group. The Zeklos' _were_ among the more populated Royal bloodline. It wouldn't be inconceivable that they may have had a bad run in with another Zeklos family member.

"There is something that I travelled here for; something that I'm hoping you could assist me with."

"I'll try my hardest. Come, sit."

Ivan allowed the Princess to guide him to the couch that had been vacated by her Guardians and was suddenly hit with that same nervousness that had attacked him briefly outside. He attempted to shove it down as deep as he could, but he knew he was about to upset one of the most important people in the Moroi world with what he held in his hands.

 _Best to just rip off the band-aid,_ Ivan reasoned with himself.

"I understand you've been looking for someone," he began softly, his fingers turning the envelope in his hands over constantly.

The Princess became paler hearing his words, if that was possible. All the colour drained from her face and her smile dropped. Her eyes dropped to the envelope that he nervously held out for her to take.

"These were brought to me last week. They are pictures of Rosemarie Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov at a club in Paris."

Without thinking, Lissa snatched the envelope from Ivan's hand and tore into it. She didn't know why she was so eager to see the photos when she knew they would most likely make her feel ill. She just couldn't believe that Rose _was_ still out there. She had been right all along!

"Who's Dimitri Belikov?" a new voice asked. Ivan looked towards the man who had been the only one not to rise at his arrival, noting it to be none other than Adrian Ivashkov.

"Dimitri is a friend of my family – someone who dedicated his entire Guardian career to me."

Ivan stayed quiet as the Princess flipped through the photos, her expression growing graver and graver with every photo she saw. When she reached the end of the bundle, she lingered on the only photo that didn't show the couple killing. "I knew she was still out there," she mumbled to herself, running a finger over the photographed form of her best friend.

Lissa's head snapped up to look at Ivan directly. The wrath in her eyes was evident, and it burned deeply; the jade green resembling flames. "Why did you come here with these? What do you want?" she barked out.

Ivan didn't take her time to heart though. He only responded as calmly as he could. "Have you ever heard of _restoration_ , Princess?"

She shook her head, the entire room giving each other similarly confused looks. Ivan wasn't surprised that the Princess and Adrian didn't know more about their own element. There was no class in the Academies for Spirit users, but surely they had explored their abilities more than healing some scratches and bruises.

Ivan knew that the Princess had brought Guardian Hathaway back from the dead once, why not again?

"If a stake is charmed with not only the four elements but also with Spirit magic, then wielding that stake can bring restore a Strigoi back to their former selves."

"You're lying," the older female Guardian with flaming red hair gritted out, her hands visibly shaking with either rage or pain.

"I assure you, I'm not lying," Ivan implored to the entire group. "There are stories about Spirit users and their ability to bring nature back to their original beauty; a person's soul back into their bodies after death! There are many forms of restoration. So why not this one as well?"

Lissa and Adrian looked between each other, knowing quite well that they were both extremely gifted with healing magic. But _this_ just seemed too far-fetched to be real.

 _Could I really bring her back?_ Adrian thought despite the insanity behind the idea. His head suddenly filled with memories of the woman he had tried to forget for the past four years. His imagination could sometimes run so wild that it was as if she were sitting beside him on the arm of the chair.

Even just the memory of Rose was warming to Adrian. Maybe he _was_ just insane. Maybe he _was_ truly losing his mind to the element that controlled him. But he didn't care. The moments where Rose lingered were the moments Adrian lost himself in.

If Rose had really been sitting beside him on the armchair, she would surely be doubting the legitimacy of what she was hearing. She'd want proof or evidence before she committed to such an outrageous idea.

"We would need your help in bringing them back to us. The Spirit users have to be the ones behind the stake and-"

"Let me get this straight," Adrian chuckled darkly. Beside him, his illusion of Rose fizzled out as he brusquely interrupted Ivan. "You want us to help in bringing back my girlfriend's _current_ lover?"

Adrian stood from the armchair and took a few steps towards Ivan and his Guardians, making his near guard tense and step closer to him as well.

"Adrian!" Lissa hissed under her breath, giving her visitors a weak apologetic smile.

"No. I'm sorry, cousin. But I won't help bring back the man that she is currently gallivanting around Europe with."

Lissa opened her mouth to reason with Adrian, knowing full well that it was his madness that was making him unreasonable. But Ivan beat her to it.

"I'm not asking you to bring back _that_ man. I'm asking you to bring back my Guardian and best friend," Ivan appealed, grief flashing in his blue eyes as he begged silently for their help.

"And brother," a new voice interjected.

All four heads looked from Ivan to face the Guardian standing slightly behind him, and they all shared the same curious expression.

Ivan's lips unconsciously turned into a smile, knowing that family was perhaps the push he needed to convince them to help. "My apologies for not doing proper introductions sooner. This is my near-guard, Viktoria Belikova, one of Dimitri's three sisters."


	4. Chapter 4

**_Paris, France._**

Dimitri heard his lover arriving back at their residence before anything else.

It didn't escape him that there were more voices now than what had left earlier in the evening. It was clear that the women had brought _home_ their prey tonight.

Dimitri was used to the only male voices being his own and Tomás', and Rose knew that they were both fiercely protective of their territory. So what was she planning if she was allowing a hunt to move inside their home?

 _Interesting_ , Dimitri thought to himself as he lifted his eyes up from the Western novel in his hands to watch the closed bedroom door.

Laughter filled the space downstairs and travelled up to the second floor. Aside from the excitement Dimitri felt about seeing his lover, he was also anxious to find out who she had brought home with her. _Was it a man?_ He thought to himself as his worry turned into fury.

It was just the kind of thing that she would do to rile him up, and he wouldn't put it past her if she were in the mood for chaos.

He focused on the sound of her laugh downstairs and followed it as it moved around. He listened harder when voice dropped to a whisper. He couldn't hear _her_ but he did hear the _female_ voice of whoever she was speaking to.

Dimitri's fears that Rose had brought home a man disappeared as two sets of heels travelled away from the larger group. She was bringing her prey to him.

Marking his place in his book, Dimitri placed it on the bedside table before crossing his ankles over each other.

 _This should be very interesting,_ he thought to himself with a cunning smile.

* * *

Charlotte stumbled after the mysterious woman and followed her blurry dark hair and pale skin up the staircase and through the carpeted hallways. Feeling as though she was getting ice burn from the hand holding her own, Charlotte thought about prying her hand free. But it didn't matter how cold she was, she just couldn't bring herself to rip her hand away; she didn't want to let go of the stranger calling herself Rose.

The mysterious American woman had approached her asking if she wanted some company, and Charlotte had been all for it. Back at the club, she had been given the task of sitting and minding their booth while her girlfriends tried to find men to dazzle them with attention.

It didn't bother Charlotte as much as one would think because she had never been like her friends. She didn't fancy meeting guys at a club. They were all sleazy and uninviting. But she _had_ been planning on ditching and going back to the flat when the beautiful stranger sat beside her.

To Charlotte, Rose had been breathtaking in the dim light of the club, and even now when they were in better lighting, she was beautiful. There was also something about her that drew Charlotte in closer. She seemed like an unsolved mystery waiting to be discovered. Charlotte wanted to be the one to find out her deepest secrets.

Charlotte had never been one to have lustful feelings about a woman, but something about Rose made her want to give into the desire that had suddenly presented itself. It was a new feeling, and she wasn't sure how to approach it yet.

Maybe she would just let Rose take the lead on this one, she seemed like she knew what she was doing.

"My, my. What have you brought for us, Roza?"

Charlotte jumped upon hearing the Russian voice from further into the dim room.

Her breath caught in her throat as she gazed upon the figure lying on the large bed. He was unexplainably handsome. The dark hair just touching his shoulders and sharp angles of his face made her heart flutter, and as her eyes travelled, she noticed the bulge of his biceps and muscles underneath the thin material of his shirt. While he was as deathly pale as Rose was and exuberated the same threatening energy as her, she couldn't help but find herself instantly attracted him also.

There was something about the way he was relaxing on the bed that made him seem hypnotic. He was so still that she could only see the rise and fall of his chest as his eyes worked over her body.

Charlotte's heart thundered in her chest and she could feel her vision begin to sway slightly. Even though she had drunk more than she would normally have, and almost all of her inhibitions were being thrown out the window one by one, Charlotte could still feel her gut telling her she had fucked up.

Something about the man laying on the bed and that woman who brought her there didn't feel as safe as it had a few minutes ago. But she wasn't in the mood for listening to her gut; she liked what she saw too much.

She broke the stare with a jolt as she heard the bedroom door lock behind her, spinning lazily to find Rose standing in front of a newly locked door and giving her the same look over that the man had.

Again, anyone who couldn't see how breathtakingly beautiful Rose was must have been blind – and Charlotte was no different. She could only appreciate that she had a bone structure that belonged on the cover of a magazine. Her cheekbones were so delicately carved that it was if God had chiselled her out of stone for himself personally. Her eyes held her attention the most though. They were confusing with such an innocent shape, but when you stared deep into the chocolate brown colour with red rings, you hardly _felt_ safe.

It wasn't just her face that had left Charlotte stunned, but also the curves of her body and how well endowed she was. She had that kind of body that looked good in anything – which was a stark contrast from Charlotte's more slender frame.

"Do you like?" Rose whispered, looking Charlotte dead in the eyes. But despite the direct eye contact, she was sure Rose wasn't actually talking to her, but to the Russian man still on the bed.

Charlotte visually gulped but spun back to look at the man who was now watching her curiously from the edge of the bed.

"Take off your dress," she felt Rose breath from behind her. Her cold breath hit the nape of her neck and made Charlotte's hairs stand up on their ends.

But she did as she was told, freeing her shoulders from the straps and letting it drop to the floor. She was surprised by her lack of coyness with having herself exposed to the two strangers. She could only thank the alcohol coursing through her body for that though. She would never have agreed to stand practically naked in front of two beings that were sculpted so perfectly.

"Take off his top."

Charlotte gulped again, watching the man stand to his feet and tower over her. She felt her eyes widen as she took in his height. She hadn't expected him to be so tall! He looked down at her with a predatory smirk, one that made her knees go weak and heart flutter. She was completely and utterly dazed, unable to move as she was sunk into the black hole that his eyes trapped her in.

"I said, _take it off_ ," Rose repeated more coldly this time, clearly frustrated that she had to repeat herself.

 _What have I gotten myself into?_ Charlotte thought to herself as her mouth went dry.

Charlotte knew she had gotten herself into a bad situation. These two were clearly a couple that had brought her into their bedroom for their own enjoyment. At first, it wasn't something she was either into nor keen for. But her desire and draw to the couple had trumped that uncertainty. She now had an urge to play along and see how it rode out.

With newfound confidence, Charlotte stepped forward and began undoing the buttons that lined the centre of the man's shirt. He shrugged the material off his shoulders once able, and Charlotte couldn't help but drop her gaze to the muscles that adorned his body.

Her head clouded with lust and her hands began moving before she realised what they were doing. Her fingertips touched the hard and creamy ridges of his abdomen, and she splayed her palms as wide as she could before trying to dip a hand lower.

But before she could reach past the waistband of his dark jeans, his hand encircled her wrist tightly and almost painfully. Using the grip he had on her wrist, he spun her so that she faced Rose once again.

She had reached out to the male, but the reaction to her touch made it appear that he was off limits. This wasn't about _him_ , but about the woman who had brought her here into her lair. Charlotte's heart was pumping loudly in her ears, and she began to let her excitement overrule her judgment – she had never wanted to touch a woman in this way.

She had never felt the desire either to be touched by a woman in the same way she let men touch her. But god, she wanted it now. She wanted that connection. She watched as Rose's eyes briefly flicked up to the man standing behind her, before settling back to her own and taking a step toward her.

Wordlessly, Rose fingered the small, hidden zip at her side and pulled it down. The strapless dress upon losing its tightness dropped to the floor, leaving Rose standing before Charlotte in nothing but lace panties and her heels.

They were close enough now that Charlotte could feel the coldness emanate from her equally as naked body. It made her skin pucker and sent a shiver down her spine. Her own body was pushing out so much heat that her chest was beginning to flush. Yet, she was trapped between two unbelievably cold bodies. It just didn't make sense how cold they were!

But then again, a lot about these strangers didn't make sense to Charlotte. The language _he_ muttered in didn't make sense. Their red eyes made even less sense! But she didn't care enough to address them though.

* * *

Rose's lips curved into a sultry smile as Charlotte stood perfectly still in front of her. She liked it when it was recognized that _she_ was in charge and those around her were obedient.

But even though she was in charge, Rose didn't want to scare Charlotte too much…yet. She wanted to build up as much sexual desire as she could in her. She could already smell the fumes of lust pulsating off her skin, but she wanted it to be entwined with her blood. She wanted to be able to _taste_ it.

Rose closed the distance between them and softly pressed her plump but cold lips against Charlotte's fiery hot ones. There was still hesitancy lingering though, so Rose took it another step up.

"Would you like to touch me, Charlotte?" Rose asked as innocently as she could.

Charlotte's mouth opened to answer, but nothing followed. So, taking the lead, Rose took hold of her shaking hands and brought them up to her breasts and gave her hands a guiding squeeze.

Her response was immediate – she didn't freeze up like Rose thought she would have, instead, Charlotte continued the motion that Rose had begun. She palmed her bust and massaged her thumbs over the standing pink buds that topped them.

Smiling, Rose leaned in and captured Charlotte's lips once again softly. This time, Charlotte's eyes fluttered closed and she pushed the kiss harder. She dropped her hands from Rose's chest and held her waist, pulling her in closer and closer until there was no distinguishable distance between them.

Rose grinned into the kiss as she looked up into Dimitri's lust filled eyes. He watched her carefully as she brushed her tongue along Charlotte's lower lip. When she moaned in pleasure and opened her mouth, Rose took the opportunity to plunge her tongue between her lips and deepen the kiss.

Keeping in perfect time with his _Roza_ , Dimitri dipped his head to be aligned with Charlotte's throat, his fangs piercing the soft skin covering her major artery and releasing a burst of blood through his mouth.

Charlotte gasped into the kiss. She'd felt the sting of Dimitri fangs, but he knew she would never struggle – she wouldn't be able to fight the endorphins brought on by his venom.

After a few more indulgent caresses, Rose parted herself from Charlotte, smirking as the human chased thin air searching for her lips again.

Charlotte opened her heavy eyes; only to watch Rose, with speed she had never seen before, lunge and hungrily attack the unmarred side of her throat.

Accepting the new hit Rose's venom brought, Charlotte let herself fall into the black hole slowly consuming her. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the arms of Dimitri and Rose as they both greedily drank from her.

Charlotte wouldn't have felt her death. She would have merely felt as if she was going to sleep; only she would never wake up from this. It wasn't until her heart beat for the final time and her body officially slackened, that Rose pulled away and took a small step back.

Dimitri was quick to follow suit. He pried himself away from Charlotte, unable to catch a few drops of blood as they escaped past his lips. He stared at Rose as she used her finger to clean up the remaining blood on her own lips, and he was instantly overcome by his own desire and bloodlust.

Dropping Charlotte unceremoniously to the carpeted floor beneath their feet, Dimitri thrust forward slamming his entire body into Rose and pushing her body up against the locked door. His mouth instantly gravitated to her throat, sucking and lapping at the fallen blood until there wasn't a shred of evidence left.

"She's staining the carpet," Rose groaned looking past Dimitri and down at the lifeless body in their room.

Ignoring her comment completely, Dimitri reached for the front of his jeans before unfastening the buttons and zipper and pulling himself free. Rose could feel him pressed hard against her naked stomach and arched into him.

She knew exactly what he wanted, but he would need to earn it.

"How did it go tonight?" she quizzed with a silken voice, rubbing her thigh against his leg and finally giving him her full attention.

Dimitri growled in frustration. He should have known that she wouldn't let him have his way with her unless he'd pleased her.

"We have complete control of _Club Rouge_ downtown," he groaned while taking his cock firmly in one hand and wrapping another around Rose's waist.

He didn't really want to talk about how he and Tomás had stormed into the office above the popular nightclub. It had almost been too easy to ride the owner of his pathetic security personnel and take ownership of the club. Apparently, humans will give up a lot when they are promised immortality.

But Dimitri knew it was what she wanted to hear. She wanted to know that they now had a steady stream of financing to rely on – and they had accomplished just that.

"…And the owner?" Rose pressed while allowing Dimitri to spin her so that her back was pressed flush against his bare chest.

"Awakened for now. But once we find a suitable replacement we can arrange a _change_ in management."

"Mm," Rose hummed contented. She was happy that Dimitri and Tomás had done everything they had planned to do tonight, and she was willing to allow Dimitri free reign of her body – like a reward.

Sensing his lover's handover of power, Dimitri made quick work of her panties by ripping them clean off and throwing them near Charlotte's body. With one quick thrust, Dimitri buried himself into Rose's body from behind her.

Rose let out a surprised yelp. She was already wet and waiting for him from the kill, but the brute strength that had been behind his thrust caught her completely off guard.

He moved against her furiously, creating a demanding pace where Rose had to brace herself against the wall in front of her. This was what he loved though – when she gave herself over to him.

He loved hearing her mew in pleasure, knowing exactly what he was doing to her. She didn't let anyone have control over her pleasure – except Dimitri. He remembered this every time that she 'rewarded' him, and he lost himself in the pleasure possessing that power brought him.

He always wondered in these moments if she felt as complete as he did. Not necessarily physically full, but that there had always been a piece missing until they met all those months ago. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he felt that she _was_ that missing piece.

Rose was lost in her own pleasure and ignored the warmth his touch brought her, focusing solely on their coming climaxes. But when she felt Dimitri pull out of her entirely, she couldn't help but moan girlishly in protest. He spun her in his arms so that they faced each other, and she gave him a lazy but sultry smile.

From the blackness of his eyes, she knew instantly what he wanted and she was more than willing to give him whatever he pleased. He had served her well tonight and was happy to tend to his desires.

She crashed her lips against him violently and Dimitri returned the gesture with equal force. It was far different from the kisses she shared with Charlotte, but Dimitri wanted her hot and furious. They both battled to be the strongest but they could never determine a winner in these moments.

Using her strength, Rose pushed herself off the wall and began walking them towards the bed. She didn't let up on the kiss, nor did she remove her hand from his perfectly sculpted chest.

When the backs of Dimitri's knees hit the mattress and he fell gracefully onto his back, he could only smile up at his dark goddess. She stood at the end of the bed in nothing but her stilettos and it always ceased to amazing him as to how someone or something could be that perfect. Every inch of her perfect, creamy skin was flawless to him. It didn't matter that she had purple and reflective scars down the right side of her ribcage and around her lower back. They only proved that she had always possessed immense strength within her – her awakening had only heightened that strength.

She crept forward, purring like a sated pussycat as her hands trailed up his jean-clad thighs. All it took was a single tug for Rose to pull the jeans down his legs until they were completely discarded, leaving her Russian God naked below her.

She ran her hands back up his thighs and hovered with her mouth only inches above his cock which glistened in the dim light. She placed a wet kiss on his tip. Her swollen lips covered almost the entire head as she sucked greedily at the small salty goodness that had already trickled out. Flicking her tongue across his head, she waited until he bucked his hips to pull away from him.

"Don't fucking tease me," Dimitri growled warningly.

With nothing but a wicked smile, Rose dipped her head and enveloped all eight inches of him without hesitation or resistance.

Pushing his head into the mattress, Dimitri's eyes rolled back until he was sure he could see his brain. He wound his hands into the tresses of her dark hair, using the grip to help set the pace _he_ wanted. He gasped and groaned as she conceded all control over to him and continued to cover his cock with her wet mouth.

He would never understand how he had gone so many years without knowing Rose. She was everything that anyone could ever dream of having in not only a lover but also a partner.

She knew what she wanted and she threw the entirety of her energy into achieving it. Whatever she wanted, Dimitri was eager to help source. He never wanted to be someone's lapdog. Not when Galina had first awoken him, and certainly not now. He wanted to be in charge and hold the power. But if he couldn't possess that power solely, he wasn't willing to share with anyone _other_ than his Roza.

Lost in pleasure, Dimitri could only last so much longer under Rose's manipulations. As her tongue rolled over his cock and her lips moved back and forth along him, he could only groan before winding more of her hair around his hands and pushing her down further, forcing more of him down her throat.

When Rose could feel her lover begin to pulse and throb in her mouth, she hollowed out her cheeks and only began sucking harder while pumping the base of his cock in time with her mouth. Hearing Dimitri moan so loudly and unrestrained only urged her on and she found herself enjoying this much more than she ever had before.

"Fuck, Roza," he growled lowly.

She knew he was nearing his release, so she relaxed her jaw and swallowed his cock until there was nothing left to fit in her mouth. Bucking his hips, Dimitri moaned and released himself into Rose's waiting mouth.

The warm liquid flowed over her tongue and filled her mouth while Dimitri's nails dug into the back of her scalp. She waited until his small spasms had completely subsided before swallowing.

Releasing him with an audible _pop_ , and licked her lips with a cunning grin. They were far from done despite her bringing Dimitri to his climax so quickly. Neither of them required any rest time, and Dimitri proved that by pulling Rose up roughly to his level and rolling them so that he now hovered over _her_.

" _The things you do to me, Roza_ ," Dimitri chanted in Russian as he slid into her body once more. His Russian words meant nothing to Rose as she didn't understand what he said, but if given the opportunity, she would listen to him speak in Russian for hours on end.

Dimitri began pounding into his prize roughly and watched in desire as Rose's body bounced with each of his thrusts. He smiled down and captured one of her nipples in his mouth, sucking on it without slowing his attack between her thighs.

Opening his mouth wide, he let his fangs pierce the muscle of her breast. Rose's cries of pleasure only grew louder as she felt his bite, as there was something eerily erotic about biting during sex.

They didn't get any sort of high from the bites. But the bites were deeply intimate and served as a connection between them.

The feeling of Dimitri's fangs being embedded deep into her breast was enough for Rose's pleasure to finally bubble over its lid. She came loud and hard as Dimitri milked her for every last drop she had in her. He wasn't too far behind either, emptying himself into her _again_ before slumping over her body.

* * *

 ** _Ambassade du Moroi. Paris, France._**

The boardroom was quiet as Guardian Boucher looked over the collections of photographs before him. The table in front of him was covered in the dire photographs of the dead and blurry club shots.

For the past two weeks, Strigoi had been tearing up the normally peaceful streets of Paris – attacking unsuspecting Moroi and their Guardians. But it wasn't just the Moroi community that was getting nervous though. The human authorities were beginning to find bodies before the Guardians did – and that was a _big_ problem in the eyes of Moroi and Dhampirs.

The bodies were left out in the open with their throats ripped out and their bodies mercilessly dumped. But what Guardian Boucher found more disturbing than the actual brutality of the killings, was that there were several missing Guardians whose bodies had yet to turn up.

There was a lot about the killings that Guardian Boucher couldn't wrap his head around. He didn't understand why the Moroi that were found without their Guardians had had their throats violently ripped out, while those who'd died alongside their Guardians possessed cleaner bites. He didn't understand why the Guardians that _were_ found were mauled almost beyond the point of recognition, and why half a dozen never turned up.

It was clear that the Strigoi responsible for the killings were going after something, and even though Moroi were still dying, it was actually the missing Guardians that Boucher feared for the most.

Their disappearances signified that _they_ were most likely the true targets.

"What's this one?" Guardian Boucher asked, picking one of the security snapshots taken from inside a club.

"This–" another Guardian began, pointing to a couple that was slightly concealed behind other patrons– "is who we think we are looking for."

Even though the photo was lacking colour, Boucher didn't need it to confirm that the pair photographed were Strigoi. Their features were haunting while also hiding in plain sight. Boucher stared into the frozen eyes of the woman who had her gaze locked with the barrel of the security camera. He could imagine the red rings in her eyes, and the paleness of her skin despite the grey-scale. Just looking at her photo, he felt a shiver run through him. It was almost as if she were looking directly into his soul and taunting him.

"What do we know about them?" he asked hastily, breaking the stare with the photo to look up at his men.

"Lara Pereira. A young graduate from Redbridge Academy in Portugal."

"This is she?" Boucher asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"No. She is the only survivor that we know of. She identified these two as the Strigoi that killed her Guardian."

"I wasn't aware that we had _any_ survivors. With their current tracking, it appears they aren't leaving anyone alive." Boucher sighed and ran a hand down his face roughly.

He hadn't been sleeping well these past couple of nights. The killings in _his_ city had been playing on his mind like a catchy song. But they were hardly something to be happy about.

"One thing Miss Pereira did say was that the woman spoke with an American accent," the same Guardian spoke up, pointing to the photographed brunette once again.

"Same with the male?"

"She said he never spoke a word, so we can't be sure."

Boucher nodded solemnly. "Send this to the Royal Court, see if Captain Croft can shed any light on who our American Jane Doe really is…or… _was_."

* * *

 ** _Maison de ville. Paris, France._**

The previously bustling townhouse was beginning to die down with the beginning of the human day fast approaching.

The women were all buzzed from their kills, and Dimitri was still heavenly sated from his shared meal with Rose.

He had come downstairs while Rose organized Chloe, the human who actually _owned_ the house, to clean up the mess that they had left on her carpeted floor. Chloe had been cleaning up their messes almost daily since she had welcomed them in. She acted as a maid, cleaning up anything from shattered crockery to blood. There was more than enough work to keep her busy when she wanted to impress.

Dimitri leaned against the bench top in the kitchen, watching almost humbly as his underlings prepared for the coming Sun. However, while Tomás and the others were ensuring all the curtains were pulled, one of Rose's prodigies sauntered her way into the kitchen with an almost Rose-like smirk on her face.

Dimitri stared down blankly at the newly awoken Strigoi named Tania. She had proven to be a good asset, but that didn't mean he wanted her company. He was perfectly fine with his own prodigy.

"Can I help you with something?" Dimitri asked her coldly, hoping his tone would warn her off.

Tania only smiled, maneuvering her way around the bench until she stood directly in front of him.

Looking up at him, Tania felt her entire body hum with excitement. She had had her eyes on the Russian from the minute she'd woken up inside the house. Power radiated from him and it only excited her further. The way he and Rose interacted didn't escape her. She could see how they fought with each other for dominance and power. Whereas Tania would be perfectly content letting him dominate _her_.

"It's more what I can do for _you_ ," she quipped closing the gap between their chests and running her hand down his bicep.

Dimitri didn't need to look up to know his lover was now standing in the doorway behind them, watching them with a morbid curiosity. While Dimitri had fantasied about tearing apart all the men that touched his Roza, he was well aware that Rose held no reservations in _acting_ those fantasies out.

She would happily tear any woman limb from limb that touched her man, and she was surely plotting exactly that while watching Tania lay her hands on Dimitri.

"You won't be able to do much without hands," Rose laughed humourlessly from the doorway.

Tania froze instantly upon hearing Rose's voice, and for the first time since her awakening, she felt scared.

She had felt intimidated and scared for her life she had fought Rose as a Dhampir, and something like that doesn't always change despite newfound immortality.

Tania looked up at Dimitri with fear glinting in her eyes, but she was only met with a sneer and the rise of his eyebrow. Tania turned to face her creator who was now also flanked by Tomás. They all shared a similar smile – like they were all in on some kind of inside joke. But Tania knew that behind the smile and laughing tone, Rose was thinking of all the way she could kill her.

 _Fuck,_ Tania thought to herself as she stared dead into Rose's cold eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Maison de ville._** ** _Paris, France._**

The only thing that could be heard throughout the house was the sound of Rose's heels clicking against the tiled kitchen floor. Every Vampire inside the walls had heard the commotion coming from the kitchen and had gathered in the entryway to watch it spiral out of control. They had heard how it started and how quickly it had finished – but none of them had been quick enough to witness it.

The only witnesses to Rose's anger had been Dimitri and Tomás.

Rose walked around the cracked and broken fragments of marble that were scattered across the floor; with blood splattered across them, in the same way, an artist would flick pain at his canvas.

On the ground and among the chunks of marble lay Tania with a bloodied face and a snapped neck. She was sprawled out face down after Rose pounded her head through the thick four-inch countertop before snapping her neck.

A sizable chunk had been taken out of the space just beside where Dimitri still rested his hip. He hadn't moved an inch during the three-second bout. He had only watched in awe and fascination as Rose emphasized what was hers.

"That won't kill her," Dimitri pointed out with a smirk, referencing to Tania's snapped neck. Everyone knew that Tania would eventually wake up from it; she was only temporarily dead to the world.

"I know. I have something better planned."

"What exactly has your wicked mind cooked up this time?" Dimitri asked with a smile. He didn't take his eyes off Rose as she continued to gaze down at the incapacitated Strigoi.

She looked up at him suddenly, her red ringed eyes bright and a large wicked smile spread across her lips. "Sunrise."

Dimitri's brows furrowed slightly as he thought about her words. While her answer had been simple enough, Dimitri still had to rack his brain for the kicker that set her apart from other Strigoi. There was _always_ a kicker with Rose.

"Tomás, honey," Rose called in a sickly sweet voice.

Emerging from behind the small pack of women, Tomás came to join Rose in the kitchen. He stood warily as Rose beckoned him forwards, even sparing a side-glance at the confused Russian.

"Could you run downstairs and get those chains I had delivered earlier in the week?" Rose smiled as she turned to face Tomás, flashing a smile that he instantly caught – he knew _exactly_ where she was going with this.

Tomás' own eyes flashed with excitement and he turned to head down to the basement. But not before Rose called out once more to him: "Remember the gloves this time though."

Scowling, Tomás quickly disappeared down the stairs as he recalled the charmed chains burning his hands.

* * *

As the sun was beginning to rise from the east, Tania was only just managing to stir herself awake.

Her fingers and toes twitched experimentally as she slowly regained control over her body. She coughed and wheezed when her lungs regained their ability to function, and she sucked in small droplets of water along with her quick breaths. A faint burning sensation crept through her, but she was yet to be awake enough to feel it properly.

She flexed her hand and felt the damp blades beneath her palm. In the seconds that it took Tania to wake from her state, she felt the dew seeping into the knees of her jeans and across that stomach of her shirt. She could see the dark grass she was laid upon and even hear the murmurings of conversation coming from inside the house.

When she gained enough strength, she tried to heave herself onto her knees – still confused as to what had happened. The last thing she could remember was the marble bench top and spine-chilling crack.

As she went from her knees to her feet, her wrists immediately pulled her back down. Tania couldn't stop her roar of pain that erupted from deep within her. She shook her arms, trying to free herself from the pain.

She looked down panicked to find her wrists tethered to chains that were searing the exposed skin of her hands and wrists. Terrified, she attempted to break free of the bonds by tugging as hard as she could.

But whatever attempts she made at escape were futile. The chains only embedded themselves deeper into her wrists, singeing almost right through to the bone and leaving bloody and charred wounds.

 _How long have these been on for?_ Tania asked herself as she tried to not only block out the pain, but also the sounds of her flesh burning and sizzling under the chains.

Tania felt like a fool. She had watched two nights prior as the anchor that currently held her chains was implanted deep into the earth. She knew that the concrete was so deep and dense that even _her_ strength wouldn't result in pulling herself free.

Even if she managed to gain enough strength, the charmed silver could maim her before she could make any progress. _Fucking sardonic bitch_ , she thought to herself, remembering Rose's threat of having no hands.

Gritting her teeth, Tania looked around at her surroundings. She was no longer in the safety of the dark house, but out on the back lawn, which, in a matter of minutes, would be engulfed entirely by sunlight. The only thing currently protecting her from the fatal rays was the large hedge along the east fence. Once the sun surpassed that last line of defence, she was a goner.

Tania didn't want to die, but she wasn't going to beg for her life. She hadn't when she had come up against Rose as a Dhampir, and she wouldn't know. She knew Rose didn't want her to either. Even if Tania begged to have her life spared, she doubted Rose would (or even could) step out onto the lawn to free her – even if she wanted to.

Speaking of the devil herself. Tania managed to spot Rose watching her through the gap in the heavy curtains. The large sunroom that was adjacent to the back of the home had once been a large airy space filled with sunlight, but now, was darkened by the same heavy curtains Rose was concealed by. Every other room of the house had the same curtains hung, allowing them full use of the house even during the daytime.

Tania attempted to stay in control of her pain while she stared back at Rose. An unhinged smile danced across her lips and Tania tried to push it out of her mind. She tried to forget that this was done as a lesson, and not due to Rose classing her as a threat.

That was because in the short time Tania had known Rose; she knew she didn't see _anyone_ as a threat. She was merely a ticking time bomb that was waiting to go off.

As the sun began to rise over the hedge and blanket Tania, she could only pity anyone who would be around the day that bomb inside Rose _finally_ went off.

* * *

 ** _Istanbul, Turkey._**

Ibrahim Mazur never liked to wait on the sidelines. He wanted to be centre stage and taking charge. But he knew that if his past-flame and mother or his child ever found out what he was planning, she would come down on him like a ton of bricks.

To Janine Hathaway, it was one thing to keep tabs on their dead daughter, but it was another thing entirely to be sending Royal Moroi after her. She would condemn him for just _thinking_ of the plan.

Which was why for now, Abe worked on their mission in the background. No one needed to know who the financer was or where the information was coming from.

He entrusted that secret with Ivan and his Guardians – who were well aware of what Abe could do to them if they were to ever betray that trust.

It was exactly what he was going to do to the Guardian he had stationed in Paris if he didn't call by the required time.

Abe paced anxiously in his home office. His tapped the back of his phone roughly into his palm as he scowled at the ticking clock. _What is taking him so long?_ Abe growled to himself.

Just as the thought passed through his mind and the clock ticked over to five in the afternoon, the serenity of his quiet office was severed by the shrill ringing of his phone.

Abe picked up the call before the first ring could finish. "Mazur," he grunted coldly into the phone.

" _It's me,_ " the voice responded nervously.

"What took you so long?"

" _Boucher called an emergency meeting. The human authorities have found more bodies. The entire city is beginning to freak. Boucher is working with the Alchemists to try to contain it, but it's not working so well."_

Abe hissed in a breath, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to stop the ambush of images forcing their way into his head. He had seen too many photos of his daughter's victims over the years, and each was as horrible, if not worse, than the next.

It didn't take much for Abe to acknowledge that he was running out of time. He didn't know what Rose or her newfound partner were planning, but if the Alchemists could no longer keep the human authorities oblivious to the killings, it was going to make it harder to convince the Parisian Guardians to show mercy and help bring his daughter back.

"Have you found out where they are living yet?" Abe sighed eventually after a short pause.

" _…Yes_ ," the Guardian on the other end said hesitantly.

"Good. Get rid of it, but not before you pass it onto me. I want to know where she is."

Abe was met with no words, only heavy breaths. He knew what the Guardian on the other end was thinking – people were dying and Abe was doing everything possible so that the Parisian Guardians _didn't_ find her before he got the Princess to Paris. He was quite possibly condemning many more innocent people to their deaths, for just the _possibility_ of saving his daughter.

"Do I make myself clear?" Abe asserted strongly, hoping to break the Guardian out of his silence. "Or do I have to remind you who you work for, Gabriel?"

" _No, Sir. It's just…their body count is rising dramatically. They are_ targeting _Guardians_ ," Gabriel responded dryly while simultaneously trying not to piss off his boss.

"I know," Abe sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. "I just need more time."

There was a thick silence between the two as Abe wondered how this had all gone so out of control. What had triggered in Rose for her to suddenly seek so much power?

Rose had always been a strong woman who didn't like settling. But in the initial years of her being turned, she had _never_ taken such dramatic leaps. Something must have happened for her to suddenly become so vindictive.

Everything led back to when the Belikov boy joined her. That had to be the connection that he was missing.

" _The sun is beginning to set,"_ Gabriel sighed. _"I'm going to stake out the club they have acquired. I'll let you know if I find anything_."

Abe nodded even though his informant couldn't see him. "Be careful, Gabriel."

" _Always am, Sir_."

* * *

 ** _Club Rouge. Paris, France._**

Rose didn't want to admit that she was bored. But she couldn't stand sitting idle in the office anymore. She was beyond restless.

She could feel the vibrations from the speakers downstairs through her feet and subsequently through her entire body. It left her itching to go downstairs and join a night of reckless abandonment. But yet, she was stuck upstairs inspecting her perfectly manicured nails while her lover muttered to himself in Russian.

She didn't want to admit it, but she _was_ bored.

It had only taken three days for the imperious and obnoxious owner of Club Rouge to get on Dimitri's last nerve. In a fit of rage, Dimitri had ripped the head off the newly awoken Strigoi and discarded him like the trash that he was.

He had thought he was _untouchable_ with his newfound strength and power, but that didn't sit right with Dimitri. At least with his other soldiers, they _knew_ that the only untouchable ones were himself and Rose.

Dimitri's untimely hotheadedness had left them with a club that needed managing. It wasn't like Rose and Dimitri knew anything about club management or how to even speak French. They had picked up on words and phrases over their time in the city, but nothing that gave them the ability to hold a conversation with the locals.

It seemed that lately, they were destroying the army they were creating faster than they were building it. Firstly, with Tania earlier, and then that same night with the club owner.

So now they had to attempt to manage it themselves, and it was quickly catching up to them. Dimitri sat in the main chair behind a large mahogany desk, scowling down at the papers that spoke nothing but gibberish to him.

Dimitri could sense Rose's agitation from a mile away. If the scowl on her face and the sound of her sucking on her teeth wasn't enough, the constant streams of disgruntled sighs were enough to confirm it.

They had come tonight to enjoy the club but had ended up doing the complete opposite.

Rose didn't like to be cooped up and hidden away. She had done nothing _but_ that during her days of being a Guardian, so now she wanted to be downstairs and enjoying herself.

The longer Rose sat, the more restless she became.

Her leg began to bounce over her knee and she rolled the joint of her ankle until it would uncharacteristically crack every now and again.

The more she thought about all those below her feet partying without a care in the world, the more she thought about how easy it would be to find a meal.

Just merely thinking of blood was enough to send her mind into overdrive. All it took was the thought of feeling blood coat the insides of her mouth like silk, and it was suddenly the only thing that could occupy her thoughts.

She snapped her eyes from the closed door and then over to Dimitri a couple of times before she let the hunger inside her make her decision.

"I'm gonna' get a drink," Rose announced abruptly as she stood from the leather lounge. She didn't bother looking back at her lover as she practically ran from the room, but she felt his eyes follow her as she disappeared out the door.

As she descended down the steep flight of stairs, the music from below vibrated the walls to the point she could see them shaking.

Rose ran her hand over the peeling red paint as she let the vibrations consume her. She could only close her eyes and smile to herself as she got closer and closer to the energy radiating from the main room.

When she was eventually greeted with the ominous flashing of red and white lights, she let her eyes rake over the crowd that had gathered for the night. The bodies all moved at vicarious speeds not only due to the heavily hypnotic music pulsating around them, but also because of the drugs she knew were coursing through their veins.

It wasn't hard to gather how the club had earned its name. The walls were coated in a deep and dark red, almost resembling the colour of blood, while the furnishings were black and bold. The bartenders that worked along the south wall were all dressed similarly to the club's colour scheme.

The entire atmosphere of the club was dark and ominous, and it generated recklessness in its patrons that Rose and Dimitri could thrive on.

While the club wasn't overly large, it still was a big enough space to include a decently sized main room and a smoker's lounge – which was always filled to capacity.

Rose wandered along the outskirts of the throng of dancers and took careful notice to every man her eyes passed over. As she walked, she could feel their gazes lock onto her. While she exalted in that attention, none of her admirers were quite what she was looking for. But before she could turn and head for the bar to try her luck there, she caught the gaze of a human that reminded her all too much of Adrian Ivashkov.

Rose judged his appearance from where she stood. She took in his muscles, his slightly stubble-adorned jaw and tried to tune into his voice. But even with her heightened hearing, she could only manage to pick up small snippets of his conversation in French over the loud music.

Looks wise, there were plenty of notable differences between the human and her ex-boyfriend. While this human would be considered tall, Adrian would still have at least a head of height on him; and what Adrian lacked in ropes of muscle, the human had indiscreetly concealed under his shirt. It wasn't his looks that reminded Rose of Adrian, but instead the way he held himself. From a distance, she could see he possessed the same cockiness that Adrian had also had when they first met at the Ski Lodge in Idaho. It was oddly compelling, just like Adrian had been.

Catching Rose mid-stare, the human gazed back at Rose hungrily while also continuing his conversation with the human girl practically throwing herself at him. Once Rose was satisfied that she had captured enough of his attention, a smile tugged at the corner of her lips and she fluttered her eyelashes to cement her trap.

Rose wanted him. Not for keeps, just to play, and she always got what she wanted…one way or another.

* * *

From the shadows of the alcove that lead to the staircase, Dimitri stood with his arms crossed over his chest. He watched bitterly as the human that had caught Rose's eye, abandoned the attention of the human girl and followed the trail of _his_ lover.

As the music sped up and screeched in his ears, Dimitri's anger began to corporealize in the form of a low snarl. Whenever Rose was bored, it wasn't a simple meal that would ever suffice. She would need a game to fully sate her.

* * *

As Rose approached the bar, she took a seat at one of the only empty stools and crossed one leg over the other. As she waited patiently for the human to approach her, she spotted Dimitri lurking in the shadows, watching her.

Her eyes followed him as he cased the edge of the crowd. She felt the heat of his stare all over her body. So much so, she temporarily forgot about the burn in her throat and the hunt almost altogether.

That was until someone stepped into her vision, blocking Dimitri out and forcing her to focus on him. A smirk was draped over his lips, one that was so enticing that it rivalled Dimitri's. It almost made her heart skip a beat. _Almost!_

She could lie and say that the honey brown depths of the human's eyes weren't striking, or that the muscles that stretched his shirt weren't alluring. But she'd simply be, well, lying. She could smell the inviting aroma of cigarette smoke, vodka and lingering perfume on him – making it clear that he was hardly a saint. But then again neither was Rose.

As he spoke to her, she could only give him a flirty smile. She understood his greeting in French, but anything after that was nonsense.

Rose pouted her lips slightly and leaned forward so that he could hear her clearly over the music. "I don't speak French."

The French stranger leaned back slightly and gazed at her like she was the only person in the room. "Ah, _américain_?" he countered with a dazzling smile.

The human who remained nameless so far could only search Rose's liquid brown eyes with an intense eagerness – she'd spellbound him. To him, she was even more beautiful than she had been from across the club.

Now standing so close to her, he could see every feature of her that was drawn him to her. He could only let his eyes roam over the features that should have warned him away from her, but in fact, they were doing the exact opposite.

"Adam," he breathed shakily in heavily accented English.

"Rose," she counted quickly, not breaking her smile's consistency.

He leaned in close to Rose, so close that she felt his lips brush against the cartilage of her ear as he spoke. "Would you like a drink, _la fleur_?"

Rose closed her eyes as she inhaled the sweet smell of Adam's blood. Unlike most of the night's patrons, she could smell that his blood was clean and pure. He had his vices sure – but his blood remained untarnished.

"Only if you're buying."

Pulling back from her ear, Adam flashed her a triumphant smile. "The bar is yours," he called while throwing out his arm dramatically towards the bar. "Choose whatever pleases you most."

Rose felt him before she heard him. Just like before, her body warmed itself with a soft hum of his lure. Along with the lure came excitement. Whenever she caught Dimitri off guard, it was only either carnage or pleasure that ensued.

"She'll have vodka, Russian," a voice growled from behind Rose. The deep Russian accent filled Rose with a purr that just couldn't be replicated with Adam's French one. She practically shivered as it travelled through her ears and crept deep into her skin.

Dimitri's hands moved to rest on her shoulders before possessively rubbing up and down her arms. He only stared at the French human as he stood startled.

Rose placed a hand over his own and halted his movements before muttering so only Dimitri could hear. "Play nice."

But the growl that rumbled through Dimitri's chest only showed that he wasn't planning to let this go. He wasn't going to let Rose continue with her hunt purely on the basis of jealousy.

" _Get gone_ ," Dimitri growled so dangerously that it immediately made Adam submit and retreat.

As Adam practically tripped over himself while fleeing, Rose spun in her stool so that she faced Dimitri. She looked up at him with a half smile and hung her fingers in the loops of his pants, using the grip to pull him closer so he was nestled between her legs.

"You just chased away my meal," Rose whined playfully.

Dimitri only scoffed down at her. "Don't take me for a fool, _Roza_. Like you only wanted him for his blood."

Hearing the scorn _dripping_ from his words, the teasing fire in Rose's eyes instantly vanished and became hard. She had to use every ounce of self-control she possessed to not lash out at him right there in front of everyone.

" _Excuse_ me?" Rose hissed, standing suddenly to face her domineering lover. While her towering heels didn't match his height, her attitude made up for the remaining difference.

"When have I ever done anything that allowed you to doubt where my loyalties lie?" Rose narrowed her eyes into dangerous slits as she asked the question, baiting Dimitri to say she had snuck around behind his back. Practically _daring_ him to dispute her words – because she knew she was right.

But he only clamped his jaw to the point his teeth could crack under the force, and clenched his hands so tight that his knuckles might have broken through the skin.

All because he couldn't deny anything she was saying. She had never gone behind his back and done anything but feed on other men. She had her body reserved privately for him. Dimitri was aware of the games she would play to get his attention, and nothing got his blood pumping more than the thought of another man touching her. But she never followed through. She only taunted him.

Rose laughed cynically to herself. "That's what I thought," she smiled eerily before turning away from him.

She picked up the shot glass that had been placed down for her during the entire ordeal and threw it back without hesitation. Giving Dimitri a final glare full of hatred, she roughly pushed past his rigid body and headed for the exit.

He watched over his shoulder as she pushed her way towards the exit – not bothering to conceal her strength as she forced her way through the dancers.

Dimitri knew that he had overreacted and ultimately put his foot in his mouth. Normally he could handle her flirtatious nature because he knew she always come home to _him_ in the end. But there was something about the smile that she had given the human that had pushed him over the edge. Watching her practically beam at the human had awoken a wave of anger that he had only accessed once in his life, and not even after his awakening. Perhaps it was because she smiled at the human much as she would smile at himself.

It was possessive and selfish, but Rose was his. He wasn't up for sharing with _anyone_.

He had fucked up, and like Rose, Dimitri wasn't one to apologize under any circumstance – he only hoped she would have calmed down enough not to throw anything at him by the time he got home at sunrise.

* * *

While Dimitri left Rose to fume and returned to the office above the club, Rose began the walk back to the residence where she would proceed to take her anger out on whatever she could find. Whether it was plates or walls, she didn't care. She just wanted to destroy something.

She walked at a quick pace, her stilettos clicking against the cement with every stride. But it didn't take long before she heard faint steps that matched her own.

For half a second, she thought that maybe it was Dimitri following her and coming to haul her back to the club – but she couldn't smell him. Whoever it was that was following her, was too far back from her to get a distinct scent, but close enough that she could still hear him.

Making a quick change in direction, she darted down a thin alleyway and waited for her tail to follow suit. As Rose moulded into her dark surroundings, she didn't take note of the stench of trash or rotting brick. She didn't bother registering to even the lowest of rodents that had made the dirty gutters their home, clambering to get away from her toxic presence. She instead watched the entrance to the alleyway with keen eyes, waiting for her pursuer.

Seconds later, the scent of Dhampir filled her nose as the sounds of heavy boots echoed down the alleyway.

She stayed hidden – concealed completely by the darkness – as he walked straight past her with his stake drawn. If he had of been paying attention, he might have caught the glow of her pale skin under the moon or even the glint of red from her eyes.

Confused, yet captivated, Rose moved away from her place against the wall and stepped out into the moonlight. She watched as the Dhampir that had tracked her carelessly ventured deeper into the darkness and away from the main road.

Rose could sense something wasn't entirely right about all this.

This Dhampir had willingly followed her into a dark alleyway with his stake drawn, and yet, he held his stake as a nervous Novice would. If he were a rogue, he would have been on the offensive from the get-go, and if he were a Guardian, he wouldn't have followed her down there. So what was his deal?

Following curiously a few steps behind, Rose attempted to suss out the Dhampir. She studied the way he held himself and the way he held his stake, coming to her own conclusions. He was poised to kill, but he would do everything in his power not to have to make that killing blow.

When the Dhampir stopped abruptly, so did Rose. She froze a mere meter behind him and watched quietly as the Dhampir's shoulder sagged in defeat. His arm dropped from his side and he hung his head slightly, exposing the back of his neck and allowing the moonlight to catch the black ink that adorned the nape of his neck.

A Guardian.

Almost instinctively, Rose reached up to touch her own Promise Mark behind her neck. To her, the tattoo symbolized her enslavement to the system. It symbolized that to some, she was just a number. Any other time, she would laugh at a Guardian's stupidity. But this time, it angered her.

As the Guardian turned to head back to the main road, he turned with such annoyance that he almost walked straight into Rose's cold and hard body. He had to look slightly down to meet her eye line, but nothing prepared him for the fear and panic that suddenly sprung to his surface.

"Here's a question," Rose began, tilting her head to the side. "Why're you following me?"

Without bothering to answer Rose's question, the Guardian raised his stake set for the killing blow. But he had lost his edge.

Rose had been waiting to make her move from the moment she had lured him down the alleyway. She may have been temporally distracted by the idiocy of the Guardian, but she had never once let her guard down as he had.

Catching the hand that was wielding his stake before it could do any damage, Rose twisted his wrist with a swift and effortless flourish and felt the bones crack under the force.

It always amazed Rose how much pleasure she got just by hearing the sounds of bones breaking at her will. What was even more empowering though was the howls of pain that the Guardian tried to disguise as discomfort.

Gazing briefly at her reflection in the stake that was now held at an unnatural angle, Rose's eyes caught the distinct engraving on the hilt of the stake.

Wrapped around the hilt was the detailed carving of a snake – proving to Rose that his Guardian wasn't just any Guardian, but on that her _father_ employed. It also explained why this Guardian had been so hesitant in raising his stake to her. He wasn't _allowed_ to kill her.

Ever since her awakening, Rose had learnt many things about herself. She had discovered many urges and impulses that she never realized she possessed. She had been able to not only explore the world but also herself. The societal laws that deemed her and other Dhampirs second-class citizens no longer bound her.

For the first time in her life, Rose didn't have to answer to anyone.

But apart from exploring any sexual desires she had and indulging in the many pleasures that immortality provided, she had also discovered the identity of her father.

While the majority of Moroi that fathered (or occasionally mothered) Dhampir children wanting nothing to do with their offspring, Rose had found her father had been quite the opposite.

Her father had always wanted to be involved in Rose's life, yet he'd stayed distant at the request of her mother. She had come to find that he had played a major role in her and Lissa's undesired return to the Academy after their breakout. He _also_ had his privately acquired Guardians follow her every move since her awakening.

She would never have put the pieces together though if she hadn't recognized the Guardian following her as one of the ones who had also returned her to the Academy. Which was why now, Rose knew exactly who the Guardian in front of her was and why he was there.

"Oh, Gabriel," Rose sighed happily. "Don't you know that the streets of Paris are _particularly_ dangerous these days?"

Gabriel sucked a quick breath in through his teeth, trying to control the pain emanating from his wrist and the fear pulsating through him.

In a final attempt of survival, Gabriel threw every bit of strength he had left forward and pushed Rose back into the brick building. He held her throat with his forearm – ignoring the pain coming from his wrist – and transferred his stake to his unmangled hand.

With her body pinned between the wall and his own, Gabriel could stop his mind from wandering to the curves that were hidden beneath the dress she wore, and as if she could read his mind, Rose responded with a husky moan.

Her lips spread into a deadly smile; the blood red colour of her lipstick making the pearly whiteness of her teeth and fangs even more menacing. He didn't mean for it, but Gabriel couldn't stop that small pang of attraction.

Strigoi were evil and there was nothing beautiful about them or their natures. So it disgusted him that she could dredge those kinds of feelings up in him. But it was apart of their allure as Strigoi. If they were beautiful in their former lives, they became breathtaking once turned.

Gabriel felt her bare leg begin to travel up his calf and wrap around his knee. It took everything in him to suppress a shudder.

Attempting to regain control of his traitorous libido, Gabriel tightened his hand around the stake and pressed the sharp point into Rose's chest – only _just_ breaking the skin.

Every sultry part of Rose crumbled before him. But while he expected her to become enraged and show her true demonic nature, she instead deteriorated with a cry of pain as the silver burned at her breast. Her face contorted with pain and she struggled weakly in Gabriel's hold.

But even though he was in the perfect position to drive his stake forward, Gabriel couldn't do it.

When he looked at the woman pressed against the brick, he saw the teenager he and Pavel had dragged back to the academy. He saw the Guardian that had given up her life so that her best friend could survive.

He didn't see a killer.

Internally, his loyalty to Abe and his natural instinct as a Dhampir was tearing him apart. The creature in his arms was killing innocents every night and taking Guardians – most likely turning them.

But that wasn't who she really was. If Abe had truly found a way to save her from this demented state, killing Rose then and there would only mean Gabriel signing his own death certificate.

Rose could see the conflict swirling in his eyes, and she knew exactly what to say to seal her newfound hunt. "What would daddy say in you kill me, Gabe?" Rose cried in her most innocent and scared voice possible.

Her words rocked Gabriel to his core. He couldn't do it. Not for Abe or the sake of his own life, but for the young woman that was trapped inside this body.

That single second of hesitation was all Rose needed.

Gabriel had seen how dangerous Rose was over his time of following her. He should have known that she was only trying to distract him.

The leg that had been slowly curling up his thigh suddenly locked, popping his knee forward and forcing him to lose his balance.

Rose pushed herself off the wall – not even blinking as the stake's point pierced deeper into her breast before dragging across the length of her chest. She threw them both so they landed with her straddling him against the hard concrete below, and her hand wrapped tightly around his throat.

The distinctive clatter of Gabriel's stake rolling away from view made his heart sink.

Now caught between the cold cement and her body, Gabriel knew that there were only two ways he was getting out of the alleyway – and he found neither of them appealing.

As Rose smiled and exposed her fangs to him, Gabriel knew that she had already decided upon his fate.


	6. Chapter 6

**_The Royal Court, Pennsylvania._**

Lissa stood bracing herself up against the bathroom basin, her hands shaking as she prepared to drain her only security net.

Lissa didn't know much about her own Spirit abilities. They had always been a part of her that slowly tore her and Rose apart from the inside. They had been driving them both to the brink of insanity since the day of the accident that had almost wiped out the entire Dragomir family.

That was until Rose had met Adrian Ivashkov on a ski trip in Idaho though. The royal playboy had been the one to initially teach Lissa a lot about the power inside of her, but it also led her deeper into a darkness that began to consume her and Rose alike.

The bond between Lissa and her Guardian was unstudied, and there wasn't a great deal of information surrounding such an anomaly. Therefore, without the knowledge of what excessive use of the magic could cause, it had gone completely unnoticed that Rose was struggling with Lissa's sudden spike in using Spirit.

Their joint breaking point had been the night Rose accidentally pulled _too_ much darkness from Lissa – flooding her entirely and sending Rose in a fit of blind rage. She had almost killed the young Zeklos Lord that night, and ever since, Lissa Dragomir was on antidepressants that stunted her magic and kept both her and Rose sane.

However, Lissa couldn't restore Rose without access to her magic. So that led her into one of the three bathrooms in her and Christian's townhouse at Court, preparing to tip the contents of the bottled medication down the drain.

Regrettably, Lissa had been trying to hold off on the disposal of her medication until the last possible moment. She had been dependent on this medication for over six years! So throwing it away wasn't something that she felt overly confident in doing.

She didn't know who she would be without the tiny pills that kept her happy. The thought of going insane was petrifying to Lissa, and those pills had kept her safe from _that_ fate.

But Rose had dedicated her life to Lissa's safety. She died to spare Lissa from the same grizzly death she had fallen victim to. The least she could do was stay strong and go off the medication until Rose was restored.

Taking a final deep breath, Lissa reached out to the glass shelf underneath the vanity mirror that held her medication. Without giving herself any time to think about what she was doing, she tore off the security cap and dumped the bottle's contents into the basin.

Small blue caplets riddled the white ceramic, bouncing and ricocheting around the bowl and filling the bathroom with tinkling sounds. She flicked the tap on a second later and watched the blue pills begin to swirl in the basin and then disappear down the drain.

Suppressing a strangled sob, Lissa tried to hold herself together as she watched her medication be swept away. It took everything in her to not reach out and grab just _one_ pill before they were all long gone.

She didn't want anyone to doubt her dedication to Rose's restoration, but she had relied on those tiny blue pills since her senior year of high school almost seven years ago – they were her safety net.

They had helped her cope with Rose's death. They were what got Lissa through her wedding without her best friend by her side. It sounded twisted, but they had been her best friends since Rose died.

Now though, she had to put aside the safety net for the sake of a fairytale – a fairytale that they still didn't know much about.

* * *

"What do you reckon she's doing at the moment?" Lissa asked quietly, transferring a silver stake between her hands.

Adrian froze at Lissa's words. He didn't want to think what Rose could possibly be getting up to. In fact, he had dedicated a lot of his time into _purposely_ blocking out the thoughts of whatever or _whomever_ Rose was doing.

Seeing the picture of her with the Russian had broken Adrian's heart. He wasn't naïve, and he hadn't expected the monster wearing his dead girlfriend's body to respect their relationship prior to it taking over. But that didn't mean it hurt any less.

He tried not to imagine his hands running over her body, pleasuring her. He tried to forget what her moans of pleasure sounded like, and the way her lips would part in a silent howl. He tried hard, but he rarely succeeded.

Without being able to rely on alcohol to subdue his returning madness, he often fell into dreams that appeared awfully real. He would ignore the voice inside his head that told him it wasn't real and intentionally lose himself in the dreams. But whenever he woke up and came back to reality, he was always more tortured than before he'd gone to sleep that night.

Shrugging noncommittally, Adrian attempted to refocus his attention to charming silver. "I'm not sure, cousin. I'm not sure I _want_ to know either."

Lissa frowned at his answer. It wasn't really what she had been looking for. She had hoped that he would actually converse with her, but then again did they really want to be discussing the deranged activities of Strigoi?

Realizing that was most likely the extent of what she was going to get out of Adrian, Lissa switched targets and instead focused on Eddie who was sitting next to her looking through an ancient book from Court's library.

"Eddie, can I ask you something?" Lissa asked brusquely, jerking Eddie to the Princess' attention.

"Of course," he smiled at her, looking up from the book.

Lissa took a deep breath before spilling the words that had weighed on her mind since Ivan had first arrived on her doorstep. Since that day, she had dedicated all her time to learning how to charm silver and eventually working up to how to use a stake. She was determined to do this to save her best friend.

But lately, her reading had shown no further information on what Ivan had been planting in her mind. His information must have come for somewhere! But even he seemed to only know so much.

"Do you think this is all going to work?"

Eddie was silent for a few seconds, thinking his answer through thoroughly. While he didn't want to lie to his charge, he also didn't want to misinform her. He had thought long and hard about this mission they had engaged in countless nights in a row – not all of it was good things, however.

There were so, s _o_ many things that could go wrong.

"I think that it is worth a shot. But we have to be prepared for a worst-case scenario."

Picking up on the dark tone in Eddie's voice, Adrian was instantly pulled back into the conversation. "Like what?" he breathed, visibly startled.

Noticing the fear in his eyes, Eddie took a deep breath and wished he just hadn't of said anything at all.

"We have to be prepared for the possibility that Rose may not want to be saved. She spared your life once, Lissa. But I doubt she will do it again, especially if you have a silver stake in your hands."

"She'll see me as a threat," Lissa nodded sadly, her words coming out thick.

Lissa had never thought about _that_ possible turn of events. She hadn't thought about how easy it would be for Rose to kill her if she wanted to. She had come close all those years ago, but if Rose were feeling in any way threatened, she wouldn't hesitate to end the Princess' life.

"We are going to try and bring Rose back to us," Eddie comforted, placing his hand over the Princess', "but the other Guardians and I know that if it comes to it, we will have to do everything in our power to keep _you_ safe."

"And are you okay with that?" Adrian snapped angrily.

"My interests lie in protecting the Princess, Adrian. If she's in any danger that we can't avert–"

"You'll _kill_ your best friend."

Eddie had never used that wording for his own sanity. He didn't want to admit to himself that he would need to go that far, and for good reason. Hearing Adrian say it made it real. Everyone knew that no matter what, the Princess' life came first.

 _Kill._

The word seeped into Eddie's blood and made his hands tremble. Looking at Adrian, anyone could see that he had _purposely_ inflicted this on Eddie. He _wanted_ Eddie to see the real consequence of what he had been eluding to.

The silence hung heavily over the table, coating all three of them like a poison. While both had very different perspectives to look out of, Adrian was stuck looking out of his own. But realizing he wasn't going to get any other reactions out of the Guardian, he decided to leave Eddie with his words.

For four years, Adrian had tried to accept that Rose was dead – and he had been getting good at it. Up until the day Ivan Zeklos rocked up and unlocked the cage that held back his memories of Rose.

They finally had hope, and it had spurred him into action. He too had dedicated all his time into this project.

But even after all this hope to have her back in their lives, they were forced to realize that it _still_ may not work.

Adrian couldn't stay in the townhouse any longer – not when he felt like he was suffocating inside of it.

He stood up abruptly; the legs of his chair scraping against the hardwood floor and making Lissa cringe. He threw the silver necklace he had been practising charming onto the table right in front of Eddie, and then just, left.

Staring after Adrian as he slammed the front door in his wake, Lissa felt horrible. While she loved Rose, Adrian had shared a different kind of love with her best friend. She could only imagine how heartbreaking for him to hear Eddie's non-words. But Lissa wasn't an idiot. She knew that if they were successful in restoring Rose, she wouldn't be the same as she was before.

No one could possibly be the same after being a monster for so long. She had wondered often what it felt like to be in Rose's place. She had thought about if the monster _was,_ in fact, Rose, but completely void of any empathy or pity. Or if Rose was a prisoner in her own body, hiding under the surface of her subconscious mind and being forced to watch and participate as something else paraded around in her body.

Neither sounded better or more optimistic.

"She's always been out there. I think that's what kept me going, you know?" Lissa whispered, still staring at the door Adrian had disappeared out of. "I keep thinking that it will be easy. We get Rose back, and she becomes my Guardian again. Done and dusted. But it won't…"

"Rose will be shattered mentally and probably physically," Eddie nodded, following Lissa's train of thought perfectly. "So would this Dimitri guy. Even if this works, neither of them will ever be the same again."

Lissa looked away from the door and gazed at her hands on the table – the same hands that held the power to save lives and bring people back from the dead. She had all this power, and she didn't even know how to use.

"We'll try our best, Lissa," Eddie said warmly, squeezing her hand.

While Lissa and Eddie didn't share the same bond she'd had with Rose, they had certainly become close over his four years being her primary Guardian; and they both wanted to bring Rose home, no matter what.

But Lissa wasn't all that convinced. Doubts still swirled in her head about the legitimacy of this tale. What if it was all a ruse that Ivan had been set on – a fairytale that didn't have a happy ending?

Sensing her detachment, Eddie gave her hand another tight squeeze before standing from his chair. He had an idea to bring the Princess back into high spirits. It had the possibility of backfiring on him, but he had to try something or anything to keep her dedication intact.

"Come on."

"What–where are we going?" Lissa mumbled, completely flustered with Eddie sudden eagerness.

"We are going to visit her – and Mason. We will pick up some flowers on the way."

Lissa smiled softly before nodding. It had been a few months since she had been to the site where they had buried Rose's empty casket. They had needed somewhere to bury her soul. Somewhere it could be at peace.

* * *

 ** _Maison de ville_** ** _. Paris, France._**

Rose waited patiently but eagerly for her newest recruit to awaken from his transformative slumber. She had not only seen the markings of her father on the Guardian's stake, but she had also recognized his strength and dedication – a dedication that he had had towards her father and had ultimately gotten him killed.

Gabriel was just the kind of Dhampir she had been looking for, and now he was all hers. She had always been curious as to _why_ one of her father's Guardians was tailing her. She wanted to know what he had planned.

Over time, Rose had come to realize that the infamous Zmey _never_ did anything without a motive. Every move he made was for a specific reason – mostly for his own personal gain. She was excited for Gabriel to wake up and divulge everything he knew about what Abe Mazur was up to.

Rose stared almost unblinkingly as Gabriel lied sprawled out on one of their leather lounges. Her legs were tucked under her body as she stared at him with an almost childlike wonder. When she saw the sudden twitches of his digits and then his larger limbs, her heart sped up with anticipation.

Within no time at all, Gabriel let out a throaty growl before rubbing his hands roughly over his eyes. Rose watched as he stared up at the ceiling intriguingly. She stayed silent though, practically holding her breath, as her new underling became aware of his new sight.

"You're awake," she smiled when red ringed eyes eventually met her own.

She could see the initial confusion radiate off of the newly awoken Guardian, but she waited for his senses to catch up to him. She allowed him a quiet moment to adjust to the new sights and smells around him, and even to the bloodlust that she knew would be burning deep within him.

When his eyes trained on her for a half a second too long, she managed to anticipate his moves before he had even finished formulating his plot.

She also let him carry them out.

Gabriel lunged for her seated body, sending them both flying from the armchair and crashing down to the floor. Gabriel didn't know what had come over him in that second – but all he had seen were the eyes that had taken his life.

"It's okay," Rose purred warmly from underneath him. "I have much to teach you, just like you have much to _tell_ me."

* * *

Dimitri didn't feel right.

There was something that screamed deep within him. Some entity that was trying to tell him that something was seriously wrong – he just didn't know what.

After Rose had left the club in a huff, Dimitri was well aware he should have followed her. She was strong and well capable of holding her own, but there was an entire fleet of Parisian Guardians out searching for them. They shouldn't have been going anywhere without the other just in case they were ambushed.

Realizing he had made a possibly dire mistake, Dimitri left the club and his entourage in Tomás' capable hands and took off. He left the club in a similar mood to how Rose had three hours prior. The difference between them though was that Dimitri left with a touch of anxiety running through his blood. It was a feeling he had felt rarely since his awakening. He'd come to find that the only way to bring out the foreign emotion appeared to be when Rose was involved.

 _She's probably dead, and all because you couldn't admit you were wrong. You can be a real cunt sometimes, you know that?_ The voice inside his head scoffed.

"Fuck off," Dimitri growled under his breath, getting an instant response. _Fine. But if she's dead, it's your fault._

Dimitri pushed on, ignoring not only the incessant yammering inside his head but also the drunk humans that stumbled past him like walking happy meals just waiting to be snatched. He had more important things to worry about rather than food.

He was so intent on getting back to their home that Dimitri almost missed the smell of blood. He stopped dead in his tracks and let his sense of smell take over. It led him to an alleyway on his left where the fumes of blood were so prominent to him that he tell someone had died in the alleyway.

But while it had derailed him from his walk home, the smell of the blood wasn't what drew him deeper into the alleyway. No, what pulled him into the alleyway was the flash of silver capturing his eyes from underneath a large rolling garbage bin.

Dimitri strode towards the bin mechanically, picking up on the smell of blood, which definitely _wasn't_ human.

He shoved the bin with everything he had, making it roll down to the other side of the alleyway and completely out of sight – and leaving a silver stake in full view.

He crouched down to peer at the stake intently, but careful not to touch it. Its tip was stained with dried blood. Not a lot – but enough that he was able to come to the conclusion that some sort of fight had gone down there.

Lifting his eyes from the stake, he narrowed his gaze and searched the alleyway looking for something – _anything –_ that would tell him what happened.

That was when he spotted the small puddle of blood. Cocking his head to the side, Dimitri's mind began to run on whose blood this was.

Human? Dhampir? Maybe Rose had simply gotten hungry? But that didn't explain the stake. A human wouldn't have been carrying it. They don't possess the physical strength it took to wield the weapon, nor would they be able to fight Rose and manage to get a swipe in.

Getting closer to the pool of blood helped Dimitri confirm his suspicions. It was definitely Dhampir blood. With traces of both Strigoi and Dhampir blood lingering in the alleyway, Dimitri began to worry.

He tore out of the alleyway and ran through the streets of downtown Paris towards the suburbs. He was in a small panic by now. Yes, there had been only _one_ Dhampir's blood, but there was still a possibility that she had been ambushed.

With no bodies remaining in the alleyway and no evidence to suggest there had been a visit from the Alchemists, Dimitri figured that Rose was still alive.

 _It's a trap._

 _The Guardians are looking for two Strigoi. They captured Rose to bait you, and you're actually fucking falling for it!_

Dimitri shoved the laughing voice out of his head. He was sick of listening to it whine and demand things of him. One minute it would scold him for being unreasonable, and then next it was shaming him for caring about Rose. It was a head fuck, and Rose was enough of one for Dimitri to deal with. He didn't need two head fucks day in and day out.

When their home finally came into view Dimitri paused sensing something was _majorly_ off.

He stopped breathing and opened his ears so he could hear deeper into the house.

The first thing Dimitri heard was the ever so faint clicking of heels against the tile. It was a sound that Dimitri had come to adore. Whenever he heard the clicking coming towards him, he couldn't stop his heart rate from accelerating and his mind from racing.

But he focused harder, hearing her heartbeat from the top level of their home. She was okay! It was a sigh of relief for Dimitri. So if Rose was alive and well, what was it that had caused all of his instincts to go nuts?

That's when he caught the second heartbeat.

It was steady and slow. It was too slow for a Moroi or Dhampir, and way too strong for a human heart. This was a Strigoi heartbeat. But Dimitri had left Tomás at the club, along with the other Strigoi they controlled.

Who the fuck was in _his_ house with _his_ lover?

Dimitri stormed in through the front door, practically hurling the wood off of its hinges. He followed the sound of the beating through the entrance and the main hallway until he reached the kitchen.

Dimitri wasn't happy with what he saw.

He was instantly locked in a staring match with a dark-haired Strigoi sitting at his breakfast bar. Neither of them moving or barely breathing as they stared each other up and down.

"Roza!" Dimitri roared, not breaking eye contact with the freshly awakened vampire. "Who the fuck is this?" he roared again.

The home was silent for a few more seconds until the sounds of Rose descending the stairs filled his ears. Dimitri couldn't believe how badly he wanted to kill the Strigoi sitting in front of him. He wanted to rip the smirk on his face off his face and shred his lips in the garbage disposal.

"I see you've met Gabriel," Rose said with an amused tone, coming from behind Dimitri to intertwine her arm with his own.

She held tight and looked between the two men having a silent pissing match. She liked it when Dimitri was jealous.

Dimitri glanced down to Rose, catching the sly grin on her face before jerking back to 'Gabriel'.

"We have much to tell you, baby. Gabe had been very informative."


	7. Chapter 7

Lissa always found herself thinking of the day Rose died whenever she went to visit her grave.

In the years between Lissa's family perishing in the car accident and then Rose's death five years later, Lissa had become extremely accustomed to feeling Rose within her. She knew back then that even in her darkest times, Rose had always been with her. But the bond was something that the Princess hadn't known she would miss, not until it was ripped away from her.

She would never forget seeing the look of defeat and beseech in Rose's eyes before she died. Rose had clearly known at that moment that she was going to die, and yet she still managed to somehow convince Eddie to leave her and take Lissa to safety with only a look.

But the image of Rose being held several feet from the ground by her throat was ingrained into Lissa's mind. She constantly thought back and remembered the things that Rose had done while entrapped in the Strigoi's palms.

She vividly recalled Rose's pained gasps as she slowly lost her ability to breathe. She had used every single speck of energy inside her to kick out at her captor and scratch at his hands.

But nothing had worked. Obviously.

When Eddie had finally managed to tear Lissa away from the inevitable death scene, she had sat motionless in a stolen car while Eddie drove erratically through peak hour traffic. It was one of those rare moments Lissa wished that the bond went both ways so she could check on Rose.

She didn't know what would happen if Rose was hurt or if she died. Would she know? Or would she continue to think her friend is alive while her body lay lifelessly…?

It was during her deliberation that she felt it happen.

It was subtle – like having the hiccups. It took her breath away for a moment before forcing it back down her throat. Then there was nothing.

She'd looked to Eddie with tears brimming in her eyes and her fingers clutching at the sweater covering her chest. _No, no, no. It can't be_ , she had repeated to herself over and over again.

With the bond suddenly gone, Lissa had no longer felt whole, and that feeling of the bond breaking had stayed with her always.

Eddie didn't need for Lissa to tell him. He'd already known from the moment he decided to leave Rose alone surrounded by six Strigoi that she wouldn't have made it. Hell, even Rose had known it.

But it didn't lessen the feeling of abandonment that Eddie faced daily. No matter how many times he was told that he'd " _done the right thing_ " or " _had no other choice_ ", he always felt like he had abandoned Rose that night.

Each of Rose's friends and family had their own regrets that made them blame themselves for the events that led up to her and Mason's deaths, and those regrets began from that moment Eddie left Rose.

It had been a tense night behind the wards of their Lehigh unit. A reinforcement team had been sent from Court to relieve Eddie and Mason for the next few days, while the Alchemists had been deployed to deal with the human authorities and collect Rose's body.

But when the Guardian who had joined the Alchemists returned from the Lehigh Valley Mall car park, their night only got worse. The Guardian told them, gravely, that while they had found a body at the scene, it had been a Strigoi body. Rose's body was nowhere to be found.

There was only the one possible scenario then. Lissa had felt the bond break, she _knew_ Rose was gone. She'd died! But then where was her body?

It was only mere hours after her death that they realised that Rose had, in fact, become something far worse than just _dead_.

Lissa had tried to fill the hole inside her by finding Rose. But when they did eventually track her down; it did anything _but_ make them feel better. Lissa's obsession with finding Rose had cost Mason his life and almost ended the Dragomir line at the same time. None of them had been prepared for how they had found Rose, and to this day, the image of their high school friend with red eyes and white skin continued to haunt every single one of them.

After Mason's death, Rose had just dropped off the map entirely and Lissa had almost given up on tracking her down. She instead tried to focus on accepting the possibility that she would never see Rose again. Neither dead nor alive.

But those who had trained with Rose and knew her as a Guardian were well aware of the skills she had possessed as a Dhampir. As a Strigoi, it was feared that she would be _incredibly_ lethal, and they didn't think for one second that she would lie low forever.

Monsters only laid low when they were planning something.

But now they had a chance to save Rose and the uncountable other lives that her restoration would ensure. Eddie needed the forefront of that plan believing that it would work. So when Lissa had expressed her doubts on the restoration, Eddie needed to reinstate every ounce of hope that Lissa had lost recently.

He prayed that a visit to see Rose would be exactly what Lissa needed.

* * *

 ** _Grand View Cemetery, Pennsylvania._**

Eddie drove the SUV into the cemetery and parked up. Without a word, he walked around to assist Lissa out before instructing the Guardians accompanying them to wait by the car. Visiting the grave of a loved one was deeply personal, and with the sun shining, there was no threat of Strigoi ambushing them. They could simply remain at their vehicles and still be close enough if any danger _did_ happen to present itself.

It was a sunny day surprisingly. There was still a cold wind, meaning Lissa and Eddie were both rugged up with warm jackets and gloves, but the sun was bouncing off of the small blanket of snow covering the grass.

The head Guardian that remained knew that if they needed him they would call out. It wasn't like they were going to be out of sight, and he understood that the Princess and her near guard were visiting friends that day. He didn't want to disrupt their time with their departed. Guardian Koehler had been part of the relief team that was sent right after Rose's death, so he knew better than most outsiders how her death had affected the Princess and Guardian Castile. He was more inclined than the others to give them the space they not only wanted, but also needed.

Lissa walked across the snow covered grass, listening to it crunch under her shoes as she unconsciously read the headstones like she always did. As she passed the assortment of graves, she clutched the flowers she'd bought in town tightly to her chest knowing she was getting closer and closer. She always got like this when she went to visit Rose's grave.

When they had first buried the empty coffin, Lissa had refused to go and visit her – because, in reality, she wasn't even _really_ buried there.

But one day, when Lissa had been feeling particularly lost without Rose, she had given in and gone to the cemetery. Despite her body not being buried six feet under, she had realised the importance of her empty grave. They had a resting place for Rose now and she deserved to have a place where all her family and friends _could_ go and see her when they needed to see her.

Janine had tossed up whether to bury her daughter's casket in the Court graveyard or not. But no one had wanted Rose to be just another small white headstone among the hundreds – they wanted her to have her own space. But not even the last Dragomir's devoted Guardian would be given a place among the Moroi graves.

In the end, they decided to bury Rose about ten miles from the University so that those Rose had befriended while attending the University could visit her grave as well.

To those who were unaware of the vampiric species living among them, Rose had died in a tragic car accident that had been caused by a deer jumping into her path. To avoid hitting the animal, Rose had swerved and subsequently gone off an embankment.

It wasn't the story they wanted to go with, but in order to not to raise suspicions on her death or cause an uproar among the community about speeding or drunk drivers – they had to make the accident a one-car collision. The only thing that came of Rose's death was steel barriers that stopped any cars from getting too close to the edges of the same embankment they had marked her death at.

Judging by the fresh flowers among the snow, someone had recently come to do the same thing Lissa and Eddie were doing. Lissa suspected it was Katrina – a young human who Rose had instantly connected with from their International Relations class. Katrina had kept in touch with Lissa, even after they had finished their degrees, and they regularly spoke about Rose.

Placing her own flowers beside the present ones, Lissa smiled sadly at the thought of others still missing Rose. _She always had that about her_ , Lissa thought to herself.

Lissa looked away briefly from Rose's grave and towards Eddie as he placed his own bunch of flowers on the grave adjacent to Rose's. The idea to bury Mason next to Rose had been an easy one. No one had objected to the two having their resting places directly beside each other.

For the first time in four years, Lissa smiled looking at the engraving on the now slightly off-white headstone. There was hope now that she wouldn't have to return to this graveyard to talk with her best friend – that she would be able to do it in person once more.

 _G. Rosemarie Hathaway._

 _G. Mason Ashford._

Lissa read the names over and over again, smiling more as the realisation came to her.

Even if the tales of restoration turned out to only be _tales_ , they would know they had at least tried. If Lissa dismissed the idea too early as impossible, she would regret not trying for the rest of her life.

Rose had given up her life for Lissa's, it was the _least_ she could do to thank Rose for her service.

"We're going to get her back, Eddie," Lissa whispered, while the small smile on her lips strengthened. "We are going to bring Rose home and the same with Guardian Belikov."

Eddie smiled as he too looked at the engraved names of his friends. While he didn't know for certain if they could bring Rose back, he was adamant that if they did, he would make sure that she first didn't blame herself for Mason's death.

Rose would return to them as a shell of who she once was, it was up to them to help build her back up and make sure she knew she wasn't to blame for the atrocities that were committed using her body.

* * *

 ** _Maison de ville._** ** _Paris, France._**

There weren't many things that could shock or surprise Dimitri anymore.

When he was a Dhampir, he had been shocked when he found out that his oldest sister was pregnant, and again when Sonja fell pregnant. But since being awakened, everything had seemed to lose its shock value. He didn't find himself being caught off guard. But this? This was _truly_ a surprise to him.

The word seemed foreign in both of his known languages. He tried it first in English like Rose had, and then again in the Russian equivalent, and yet he still couldn't comprehend how it would even be possible.

While Gabriel had already told the story of Abe Mazur's great plan to Rose shortly after he had been awakened, Dimitri needed to hear it for himself. He needed to hear every single word that had been spoken to Rose so he could make his own verdict.

During the recitation, Dimitri had moved away from Rose's side and had begun leaning up against the counter beside the large stovetop, staring directly ahead at where Gabriel was sitting at the breakfast bar.

For a species that didn't require any other substance than blood to survive, they certainly found themselves using their kitchen more than they had ever thought they would.

"Restoration?" Dimitri asked again, trying the word on his English tongue once more. "They are planning to _restore_ us?"

Rose responded with a smirk. "You said it, comrade. They want to return us back into the pathetic guard dogs we were years ago."

Beyond her smirk though, Dimitri knew that Rose had a deeper revulsion to the idea of being restored back into a Dhampir rather than just losing her immortality. She'd had a taste of freedom now, and she had no intention of willingly becoming something so submissive and imprisoned like a Royal Guardian again.

She would rather _die_ than be turned back to her Dhampir self.

"How is that even possible?"

"Spirit. A stake is charmed with five instead of the four elements. Said stake, then goes through that beating hunk of muscle in your chest and goodbye to the perks of being undead," Gabriel explained, smirking as he openly enjoyed how caught off guard Dimitri appeared.

Dimitri looked between his lover and the newly awakened Guardian curiously – Gabriel appeared smug, but Rose looked downright amused. She didn't appear to care one single bit about the little mission the friends and family of her previous life had set themselves on.

"Why are you not even the _least_ bit worried? I saw the stake in the alleyway. If _he_ was able to get a swipe in, what's stopping an entire fleet of Guardians from bringing you down?" Dimitri growled, pointing an accusing finger at Gabriel but directing his works towards Rose.

While Gabriel didn't know whether to be offended or not by his jab, he knew deep down that everything that had happened in that alleyway had gone according to Rose's plan. She put herself in a position where he would have to make the decision on where his loyalties lay.

If he had of gone with his gut, he could have very well killed her while he had her pressed up against the brick wall. But Rose knew that when given the opportunity, Gabriel wouldn't have been able to deliver the killing blow. His loyalty to Abe Mazur had won out in the end, meaning Rose had the upper hand and she was able to play him like a puppet. If for a second she'd thought he would have been able to overcome her, she wouldn't have put herself in such a dangerous position.

"Because, Dimitri," Rose giggled, walking around the marble bench top so that she stood opposite to where Dimitri was leaning. "The _spirit user_ has to be the one to use the stake."

Another shock had been _that_ crucial bit of information. In an _instant,_ the threat had dropped from a potentially serious danger to nothing more than an inconvenience to them.

"The _Princess_ has to stake you?" Dimitri asked, humour dripping from his words.

Rose shrugged. "Or Adrian. I'm not sure who exactly they've picked for who."

Dimitri couldn't help himself. He let out a strong and loud bark of laughter that bounced around the room and made Rose light up like a child on Christmas day.

She secretly loved when he laughed. It always made him look _vastly_ more handsome than he already was.

While a glare made her heart race and a smirk made her want to rip off her own panties for him – that smile made even the dark magic keeping her dead heart pumping stop momentarily.

That was the difference between Dimitri's smile and the human's from the club – Dimitri's could _actually_ do damage.

"A Princess and a drunk–" Dimitri began before Rose cut him off.

"–Could do no damage at all," she laughed, dancing her fingers up the broadness of his chest and linking them behind his neck.

"Could be fun."

Dimitri normally didn't let himself get too caught up in Rose's games. But this one was the kind of game he could _certainly_ see himself enjoying. There wasn't anything quite like terrorizing those who you had once known and ruining their grand plans.

Dimitri crushed his mouth down to Rose's with a bruising force. He now understood why Rose enjoyed playing games so much – they were an extremely powerful aphrodisiac.

Rose opened her mouth for him, allowing him full access to the cold depths past her lips. She couldn't stop the moan of desire that left her, and even Dimitri was beginning to struggle with his own control as he backed her up until she hit the counter behind them.

The night's previous quarrels had been long since forgotten about by that point. The news that Rose's prior charge and friends were planning to restore her and Dimitri were enough to make her forget she was even mad at Dimitri – and enough for Dimitri to forget entirely about Gabriel sitting on the other side of the breakfast bar, watching them.

Without breaking the powerful and urgent kiss, Dimitri crouched slightly and hooked his hands behind Rose's thighs to place her up on the breakfast bar. As he stepped into the space she made between her thighs for him, his hands began to impatiently gather up the fabric of her dress and push it up to her hips. It left her creamy flesh on full display for Dimitri.

Veering away from Rose's mouth to suckle on the skin of her throat, Dimitri locked gazes with a very docile Gabriel.

"What are you still doing here?" Dimitri growled over the sound of Rose hastily unbuckling his belt.

But Gabriel remained unresponsive, further angering the Russian vampire.

"Rose may not care about having an audience, but I'd prefer it if you fucked off."

Gabriel's eye twitched. "There are bedrooms here. You could use one," he sneered, but Dimitri found his stubbornness amusing.

Dimitri smirked at what seemed like a challenge – he _loved_ challenges.

With a skilful manoeuvre of his fingers, Dimitri pushed aside the thin fabric that covered the most intimate part of his lover and eased two fingers into her. He rode out her slow moan with an accompanying grunt of his own.

"My house – my rules," Dimitri grinned, slowly starting to curl and pump his fingers into Rose, making Gabriel grimace. Dimitri wasn't usually one to fuck in front of others, but in order to assert what was his and who was in charge, he would _gladly_ take Rose there and then.

But he knew that he wouldn't need to – he had already won judging by the discomfort on Gabriel's face.

"Now _fuck off_."

* * *

 ** _The Royal Court, Pennsylvania._**

A large private plane landed on the airstrip with a gush of wind and a loud squeal of tires against the concrete. To anyone who didn't know any better, they would look at the plane and assume that it was no one of importance due to the lack of distinguishing features on it.

But to the ground crew, the plane didn't _need_ any distinguishing marks for them to know who was going to be disembarking from the plane.

Sure enough, once the Moroi air hostess had opened the door and released the staircase, one Ibrahim Mazur stood under the high sun while buttoning up the front of his lilac suit jacket.

The slight scowl on his face could have been easily mistaken as discomfort under the sun, when in fact, it had nothing to do with the rays – they were _nothing_ compared to the problem he had on his hands.

From the beginning of his entire endeavour, Abe had wanted to be heavily involved – but had relinquished that control to keep any Scottish heat of him. But when it had reached the two-day mark and he _still_ hadn't heard back from Guardian Roberts, Abe began to suspect the worst.

He contacted the Moroi Embassy in Paris and was promptly told that Gabriel Roberts was missing in action – and had been for days. He'd never checked back into the Embassy after the night he told Abe he was tailing Rose and Dimitri.

Abe didn't think for a second that Gabriel was _missing_. If his suspicions were correct, he feared the worst for the esteemed Guardian. Abe knew that his daughter would use Gabriel's admirable loyalty to her own advantage now.

Knowing this, a timer had suddenly been put on their entire mission. If Gabriel had really been turned, he would have surely divulged everything to Rose and Dimitri. By that time, their element of surprise was ruined.

If they had any chance of restoring their souls, they needed to act on it and fast.

Sighing deeply, Abe began descending the stairs with his most trusted Guardian, Pavel, hot on his heels.

"Time to get this show on the road," he mumbled to himself, rubbing his palms together like some sort of supervillain.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Ambassade du Moroi. Paris, France._**

Guardian Boucher had been gruelling over the Guardian files he'd had in his possession for almost a week now. He had spent most of his waking hours scouring through the folders to find _any_ information that could help bring down the Strigoi pair that was captured by the security camera. That photo and Lara Pereira were his only real leads.

Since that night, there had been no sign of the photographed pair, and yet their presences were well known throughout the city. Since discovering them, Boucher had noticed the spiked rising in deaths, not just of Moroi and Dhampirs, but also humans.

Bodies were turning up all over the city, some in worse shape than others, but all nevertheless, dead. His mystery Strigoi were terrorizing Paris with everything they had. But it didn't matter how much damage they inflicted, it was the law that Guardians were prohibited from actively _hunting_ Strigoi groupings.

Judging by the folders before him, Boucher's suspected they were well aware of this piece of information – so they had played on it.

They had taken their knowledge of how the Guardians operated and simply used it against them. They knew all too well that Guardians were defenders, not hunters. They didn't go willingly walking into Strigoi nests like Buffy the damn Vampire Slayer!

They knew that the Guardians wouldn't come after them, and they had slowly taken the city right out from underneath Guardian Boucher's nose.

But as the list naming the deceased grew, so did Boucher's defiance of the law. He was hell-bent on destroying the couple and would do anything to ensure their deaths. To hell with the 'laws'! He wasn't going to watch his city fall to the reign of Strigoi, no fucking way!

He knew the only way to carry out a successful hunt was by knowing _what_ you were going after, or in this case, _who –_ and not just who they are now, but who they _were_. These weren't just the run of the mill Strigoi stirring up trouble and fear. They were bringing something darker into Paris, something that was being noticed too heavily for his liking.

When Hans Croft, Captain of the Guardians, sent through copies of the files that belonged to the duo a week prior, a quick and brief skim through the folders had Boucher's stomach sinking quicker than lead in water.

He finally had names to match his John Smith and Jane Doe. The files that had come with these names were extensive and captivating. He had two very loyal and very deadly ex-Guardians to destroy.

The files had begun with any information collected from their early lives, starting with their parentage, or in this case, who their mothers were. Both files were left blank on who their fathers were. After some background on their families, the records then extended into their schooling and Novice trials before finishing up with their charges.

Both Guardians had been extremely accomplished for their young ages. Both had been at the tops of their classes at the time of graduation from their Academies, and both were eagerly assigned as Guardians to members of a royal bloodline.

But what caught Boucher's eyes were the extra details that were held inside each of their files.

His 'Jane Doe' was otherwise known as Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway. A graduate from St Vladimir's Academy in the United States, Guardian Hathaway had been involved in several incidents that had caught the attention of Guardian Headquarters at the Royal Court.

Incidents such as smuggling the Dragomir Princess out of their school, and almost beating a Royal Moroi student to death during her final few months at the Academy had almost cost the young Novice at the time her place at the Academy, and therefore her chances in being assigned to the Dragomir Princess. She had pulled through though, showing insane levels of commitment to her training and to the Princess.

There was also a large section devoted to a rescue mission she was involved in during her final year. Guardian Hathaway had been the one to alert everyone of the Dragomir Princess' abduction by Prince Dashkov. It was her that had led the Guardians to where she was being held – no one knew how she had known, but they were astounded to find she had been in fact, right. But what shocked Boucher more than the young Guardian's ability to know where her charge was day and night, was her self-sacrifice.

Throwing herself into the path of Psi Hounds to protect Lord Christian Ozera was something Boucher saw as extremely valiant and selfless. While Dhampirs were trained from the moment they could walk and talk that Moroi lives came before their own, it wasn't often he saw a Novice willing to sacrifice themselves without hesitation.

Guardian Boucher found himself greatly admiring the woman he was reading about. If he had ever met her in person before her death, he would have been extremely honoured. She had withstood being mauled half to death by those Psi Hounds, and still bore the jagged and liliaceous scars that curled from the right side of her ribcage, down the side of her body and towards her lower back. They claw scar almost made her body resemble what a ball of yarn would look like after being mauled by kittens.

No matter how much he admired her though, after seeing those photos, Boucher just couldn't read anything more on Guardian Hathaway. It was a true tragedy what had happened to her. She hadn't deserved to be forcibly turned four years prior when she was only barely out of her teenage years. But no matter how tragic the story was, it was still one that Boucher knew all too well.

Her new partner in crime, Guardian Dimitri Belikov was much the same. He had dedicated his life to being a protector, not just for Moroi, but for his Dhampir family as well. His mother raised him along with his three sisters in a mixed commune in Siberia. Once he received his Promise Mark, he ventured to the larger cities of Russia alongside his childhood friend and charge.

To ensure he was granted guardianship of his childhood friend, Guardian Belikov had thrown himself into his training – even managing to graduate with Novice trials scores that were yet to be beaten. That was until he was turned – also against his will – at twenty-nine. Only two years after Guardian Hathaway.

Both Guardians had been ambitious as Dhampirs, and their files showed that they had been, for the most part, successful in whatever they'd put their minds and bodies to. They had trained hard and shown their strength and dedication time and time again – both qualities that were highly regarded in normal circumstances, but had the opposite effect on Boucher now.

Ambition like theirs was a deadly weapon when placed in the minds of something with no concept of emotions or empathy.

But things had escalated too horrifically in Paris. The public feared the presumed gangs that harassed their city, killing tirelessly and not leaving the dead out in the open. Daily, humans and Guardians were stumbling upon bodies.

The French Military Service had been brought into the heart of the city to patrol, and hopefully catch, the predators. But so far they had been unsuccessful in even catching a _glimpse_ of who they were looking for.

Boucher was certain that it wasn't solely Rosemarie and Dimitri behind the increased deaths and missing Guardians. The body counts were just _too_ high to be committed by only the pair. There had to be more of them! He didn't believe for one second that those Guardians were truly missing at all, only that they had altered their allegiances.

Statements warning the citizens of Paris had been forwarded on from the Moroi Embassy to the French Government. Notices were in place for those travelling to the popular tourist destination not to travel at night. However, there was enough ignorance to the threat that Paris' nightlife still managed to thrive. Enough of the community denied that they were in any danger. Even the most preyed upon section of the city, _Place Pigalle_ , appeared to be ignoring the soaring number of deaths.

Boucher came to realise that it truly didn't matter _who_ these monsters had been before the days of their deaths. He'd learnt about their childhoods; their families; and even their friends and relationships. But at the end of the day, those files belonged to the dead. The Guardians in those files no longer existed.

Rosemarie and Dimitri had caused far too much damage and riled up too much fear since their arrival in Paris. Boucher didn't want to wait anymore. He wanted the demons destroyed, and order restored in the city.

* * *

 ** _The Royal Court, Pennsylvania._**

The last time Janine Hathaway had looked into the eyes of her daughter's estranged father, was when he was getting back onto his private plane and disappearing to Turkey once more.

He'd come for the funeral – staying with Janine as she mourned the death of the daughter she'd never made time for. He never strayed from her side, no matter how many people stared at them. Even when the service at the cemetery had finished, Abe had stayed as Janine attempted to fit in all the time she had lost with her daughter.

Everyone dealt with their pain in their own ways. While Lissa had locked herself inside the bathroom of her temporary home at Court and cried, Adrian had drowned himself half to death in alcohol. While Eddie chewed through punching bag after punching bag thinking of how he could have saved Rose, Mason remained at the church and prayed for mercy on Rose's soul.

No one but Abe knew that Janine had remained at her daughter's empty grave until the early hours of the morning. He stayed with her as she complained about the cemetery being too neat, and as she expressed her dislike of the perfectly lined up headstones and manicured grass. It wasn't somewhere that Rose would have liked, and they both knew it.

When Abe left a few days later, Janine was relieved. It wasn't that he was leaving her; they just both knew that his presence would only be harder for her.

And they were right.

Before Rose had died, she was a constant reminder to Janine of when she let anything other than her duty run her life. Rose was a little memento of Abe and her more impassioned life before her service, which she sometimes couldn't bear to look at.

Even when Janine herself had attempted to tame her daughter, the flames of her nature had never dwindled. She was as fiery and passionate as Janine had been, so how could she punish her daughter for simply being a Hathaway?

But nevertheless, Janine had found the perfect punishment without even realising it. She focused on her duties as a Guardian instead of her duties as a mother. The fact that she didn't know _how_ to be a mother hadn't been a great foundation to start off on either.

Growing up, Rose was made well aware that her mother had left her to the Academy from the moment she could – and Janine was now paying for those mistakes. She paid now for not being there when her daughter celebrated birthday after birthday; she paid for not being there to witness Rose complete her Novice trials; she paid for valuing her Guardianship over her Mothership.

After Mason's death at Rose's hands, Janine begged to be reassigned as one of Vasilisa's Guardians – and a Hathaway _never_ begged. Janine knew she couldn't make up for the neglect she had put upon her daughter, but she could do her best to honour her daughter's memory and protect who she had died for from herself.

So, when Abe Mazur turned up unwarranted to the Princess' doorstep, Janine was caught entirely off-guard. It had been four years since the pair had last seen each other; almost a year since they'd last spoken, so what could have brought Abe back to Court on such a whim?

Janine wished she had never asked.

* * *

"You've done what?" Janine growled under her breath.

It was a wonder to everyone occupying the room – both Moroi and Dhampir – that the fiery redheaded Guardian's hair wasn't _actually_ on fire.

It had been precisely six minutes since Abe Mazur had knocked on the door of the townhouse belonging to Lissa and Christian – and every second of those six minutes had been tense and uncomfortable.

The look on Janine's face as she glared daggers up at the tall – and slightly recognisable – Moroi were enough to make even those standing behind her shrink back.

She rolled her hands into tight balls at her side, digging her nails painfully into her palms in order to maintain some semblance of her control.

The air around them was so thick, that it was barely breathable.

There were no murmurs of conversation through the townhouse, only silence and the sound of breathing from those waiting to see if the esteemed Guardian would take her obvious anger out of the Moroi man? Or, if she would instead opt for her daughter's approach and put it into the destruction of an imamate object?

No one knew, and no one was willing to put bets on it.

Taking a deep breath, Abe prepared himself to figuratively _spill his guts_ to the mother of his child. He should have known that this day would have come eventually. Did he really think that he could have kept his role in his own grand plan a secret forever? It would have only been a matter of time before Janine discovered the truth.

"I've had Gabriel and some others keeping an eye on Rose ever since she resurfaced in Italy – just after Guardian Ashford's death," Abe clarified with a dignified breath. He wasn't looking forward to the reaction of the further truths he was about to tell.

Janine swallowed the lump in her throat, not processing his words easily. "You're telling me, you've been stalking the corpse of our daughter for _four_ years?"

Before anyone in the room managed to piece together who the Moroi man was and why he looked familiar, Janine began yelling.

"You knew where she was all this time and you never said _anything_!"

Every single person in the room was struck with confusion, including Abe. He'd expected the Guardian to lash out at him and call him a fool for stalking a monster, and yet, she was angry that he hadn't _included_ her in his tracking?

"No – and there's a reason I never said anything. That demon is crafty, Janine. She must have known I had found her. She disappears every now and again. She went almost an entire _year_ without Gabriel finding her…up until Paris."

As he spoke, the puzzle in everyone's minds quickly come together. This entire mission had been orchestrated from the time of Rose's turning. The man in Lissa's living room was not just someone insignificant, or who had turned up out of thin air to pass on information – he _was_ the source of the information.

Everything they had ever been told had come from him one way or another. All those small titbits of information about restoration had come from him, even down to…

"The photos…" Lissa whispered, speaking for the first time since Abe had entered her home. "You're the one that gave the photos to Ivan."

Abe nodded reluctantly and watched the Princess dejectedly sink into her seat.

"I'd heard stories of restoration over the years, but I always thought they were just that – stories. I didn't want to get too invested in an idea like that though. It's unhealthy. But when we caught up with her in New York and watched the carnage she and Belikov brought on, I couldn't sit by anymore."

In the corner of the living room, Viktoria Belikova tried her hardest to keep her composure. The only thing keeping her tears at bay was Ivan's hand holding her own tightly. It wasn't an easy task either. There was something about knowing her older brother killed _at least_ a person a day that made her buckle.

Dimitri had been a massive father figure in Viktoria's life. Even before their father had walked out and never come back, Dimitri was the main male figure in their home. It sounded absurd that her brother would capable of that kind of destruction, but she had to remind herself that it wasn't really her brother. It was a complete stranger to her.

Back in the centre of the living room though, Janine was on a warpath of her very own. Huffing, she pulled at Abe's arm to reclaim his attention from the Princess.

"So, instead, you thought that sending two of the most important political and royal figures of our world into the _den_ she's created, was a good idea?" Janine directed at him furiously.

"Guardians are dying all over Paris, Janine," Abe implored. "I can't just sit back and watch it anymore. Her and Belikov are planning something – something big. If restoration works, it's a win for everyone. We get our daughter back, the boy gets his life back as well, and whatever operation they're been running _collapses_. Don't you want her back, Janine?"

While the room blinked at Rose's parentage being revealed, Janine finally snapped without any warning at all.

"She's my little girl, Ibrahim! Of course, I want her back!" Janine cried, using her fists as weapons against his chest.

Despite her Dhampir strength behind her hits, Abe didn't flinch once nor move a muscle. He took the hits one after the other, before suddenly clutching her forearms and pulling her close to his body. He cradled her as tightly against him as he could; muffling her cries as the onslaught of pent up emotion finally overcame the Guardian completely.

The room watched in stunned silence as a Moroi with the reputation of a mobster, and the great Guardian Hathaway Sr clung to each other, re-mourning the loss of their daughter with a fierce rawness.

No one wanted to interrupt their moment together, but there was too much left unanswered. "What did you mean by 'Guardians are dying'?" Christian spoke up quietly as he methodically caressed his thumb over his wife's hand.

Abe looked up to the fire user but didn't loosen his hold on Janine. "Rose and Belikov seem to be targeting Guardians. According to their _only_ living witness, it seemed like it was a trial. They're testing Guardians. If they fail, they die. If they pass, they are turned."

"What's a pass?" Eddie asked, speaking up for the first time since Abe's arrival.

"I'm not too sure. But I can take a stab and say that strength would be the main one. Targeting Guardians _specifically_ could only mean that they want recruits that are strong and trained. Dedication could also be a factor. If these Guardians were truly willing to give themselves up to save their charges, I'm sure Rose and Dimitri would manage to convert that loyalty to themselves."

Eddie grimaced. "So you think that they're what? Building some kind of army?"

"That's exactly what I'm thinking – and I'm not the only one. I placed one of my Guardians inside the Moroi Embassy in Paris when they settled there. He was attempting to stop the Embassy's Intel of the two of them for me," Abe continued. "Restoration doesn't work if there is nothing remaining to be restored."

"What do you mean _was_?" Adrian asked, sitting forward in the armchair he had been slouching in.

Abe sighed. "Gabriel dropped off the grid several days ago while tracking them. The Embassy marked him as missing but he's presumed dead. If my suspicions are correct, he's not dead. But I hope for our sake I'm wrong."

"That means they would know everything right?" Adrian asked. "If this Guardian knew everything you did and Rose turned him, his loyalties would now lie with her – not you. That's why you're here." Adrian couldn't believe his own ears. How had someone as kind and as selfless as Rose turned into such a conniving and evil being? He knew that Strigoi were evil, but he always thought that they might have possessed a small part of themselves before they were turned, but now he had a _very_ different outlook.

He was sure without a doubt that if Rose felt threatened for even the slightest second, she would kill every single person in the room with nothing but a song in her heart, no matter the history or relation.

"It's exactly why I'm here. Before Gabriel went missing, we had time – but not anymore. We're on a deadline now."

Lissa sighed, finally heading enough. "So what do you suggest we do?"

Abe had been waiting for this. He had been waiting for the moment they would be ready to act.

"I want to fly out to Paris as soon as we can get yourself and Lord Ivashkov ready. But I don't want us walking into a death trap, so either before we arrive or upon our arrival in Paris; we need to figure out _why_ they are recruiting these Guardians. Nothing is done without intent, especially in a mind as foul as a Strigoi's."

Lissa nodded, ready to follow Abe wherever he pointed. She was more determined than ever now to bring Rose back to her. She had put her life in danger time and time again for the sake of Lissa's – and she had suffered the consequences _time and time_ again.

* * *

 ** _Paris, France._**

Outside the walls of their brick 'kingdom', the rain beat down loudly and heavily. Thunder rolled and lightning cracked, illuminating the night sky and sending blinding flashes of light through the uncovered master bedroom window.

Even with their superior hearing, the deafening storm raging outside was managing to drown out the activity on the lower floor. It had started getting crowded in the modest-sized house, and when there were fifteen restless and newly awoken Strigoi all under the _one_ roof; there wasn't much room for quiet.

But with the storm, a dome of peaceful silence had been placed over Rose. All she had heard for the past few weeks had been the sounds of death and destruction – which she no objects to normally. But even the most notorious killers in the world enjoyed moments of silence.

Tangled stomach-down in the snow-white sheets, Rose hummed contently as Dimitri continued to shower her spine with cold, open-mouthed kisses. She had sensed an interesting shift in Dimitri recently. Ever since the discovery of the plan to restore them, he had possessed a new outlook on the carnage he inflicted.

Perhaps it was that they were both secretly worried. After milking Gabriel of every tendril of information he knew about restoration, it seemed to be a very probable idea. Lissa has brought Rose back from the dead once. Why not again?

But Rose would rather be burned and staked than returned to her Dhampir self – Dimitri as well. Perhaps in the instance where they chose death over restoration, they would know they were leaving the world in flames.

Looking back at her Dhampir life, Rose couldn't help but scowl. She had been treated like a second-class citizen since the day she was born. She had been segregated and given the Moroi's scraps her entire life. It had been drilled into her since she moments she learnt to walk and talk: that Moroi lives meant more than her own. She was disposable, and they made sure she knew it.

She had given her life and body to the 'cause'. She had been mauled, burned, bruised and killed, _all_ in the name of service.

 _Never again_ , Rose thought to herself. Never again would she let someone tell her that her life was less important than another. Since being awakened, Rose had built herself a new life in which she was feared and respected; valued and obeyed.

 _No way_ was she giving up that kind of power. Rose would do everything possible to conserve the foundations that she and Dimitri had created. It would only be a matter of time before the Guardians would be at their door. She had been leaving a trail for the Head Guardian of Paris to follow since the night they had awoken Tomás. And it all began with leaving his charge alive and as their only survivor since arriving in Paris.

It could be any day now that a legion of Guardians or a pathetic clique of Spirit users made their move.

But Rose would be ready. They may not be expecting an army, but an army is what they would get.

* * *

"What's got you so unsettled, Roza," Dimitri murmured as his lips continued to travel down the length of her spine, as his large hands swallowed up her small body.

Rose hadn't realised that during her thoughts, she had begun growling. "I want to be ready," she replied evenly once her throat relaxed.

"Stefano?" Dimitri answered without a beat, knowing exactly where she as going with her precautions. "It won't take long for him to get here from Rome."

Rose nodded, hiding her shock well of Dimitri's forwardness in inviting the man who awakened her into his home. The topic of Stefano had always been touchy for Dimitri. In his eyes, _Stefano_ was the man who had given Rose what she had truly desired – freedom.

Rose rolled onto her back, putting her face to face with her very own living and breathing – okay, _breathing_ – cowboy. She cocked her head to the side as her eyes studied him. Yet, he showed none of his regular signs of distaste or hatred whenever Stefano was mentioned.

"Do you want to hunt to distract you?"

Rose smiled gleefully at Dimitri's suggestion, forgetting entirely about Stefano, the Parisian Guardians _and_ restoration. It had been a few weeks since they had gone hunting just the two of them. It seemed every time they had left the house recently, it had been with an entourage of newly awakened Strigoi that they had to both control and teach at the same time.

The thought of going back to their regular routine made Rose's dead heart beat faster in eagerness.

" _Le Montana_?" she suggested hopefully, her red ringed eyes bright with the vision of a hunt.

She had purposely suggested the exclusive club to avoid going to their own club. Everyone knew the pair when they were at the club, so hunting there had become boring. Stories of the 'magical drug' that they possessed had begun drawing in a very expectant clientele. But there was no fun in having their food come to them; they liked the chase – the _seduction_.

"It's your world, milaya," Dimitri grinned, resting back on his heels as he continued to run his hands down her body. "I just live in it."

Smiling to herself as she stretched her arms above her head, Rose relished in the feeling of Dimitri completely wrapped around her – fugitively and literally. She opened herself up to him entirely, wrapping her legs around his waist and squeezing.

Doting as always, Dimitri conceded to her silent request as her moans filled the room and mixed with his own.

* * *

With a cunning smile, Rose used the one hundred euro note that had been placed in her hand to snort the line of cocaine off the compact mirror. Finishing the line, she threw her head back, wiping her nose and let the initial kick of the drug sunk in.

She watched as a young model by the name of Lucia did the same, her long blonde hair flipping back as she followed suit.

The heavy electronic music faded into a hum around the buzzed women. They had managed to secure a booth in the far back corner of the modest club, sectioning themselves off so they wouldn't be spotted. But, while they thought they were invisible, there would always be one who would spot Rose wherever it was she hid.

She could feel him watching her, she always could. There was such heat in his gaze it burned her through the masses of crowds between them. She didn't need to search to find him either.

When she eventually gave in and looked up through the multi-coloured strobe lights, she instantly found Dimitri's gaze. His dark eyes were locked on her; watching her as barely dressed model-types fawned for his attention, but never getting anything more than a sneer.

Turning to Lucia with a smile, Rose beheld her current prey. Sure she enjoyed the thrill of tricking a man into her arms, but there was something about bright, platinum blonde hair and the colour green that just rubbed her the wrong way.

The longer she stared at Lucia swaying her head to the music, the more Rose's smile morphed into a look of disgust. Not only was Lucia a sick reminder to Rose, but she was also a fucking idiot. She had no sense of personal safety.

Rose thought about ending it right then and there. To hell with the crowd. She was up for a show anytime!

But one more look at Dimitri told her she would have to share the carnage, and she wanted Lucia _all to herself._

Scooting herself closer to Lucia, Rose yelled over the music into her ear with an offer she knew the human would never be able to refuse.

As expected, Lucia's green eyes brightened at the offer of something new and stronger than her current high. Without anything but a devilish smile, Rose intertwined their fingers and pulled her to her feet. She weaved the two of them through the crowds and to the hallways of the club until they hit the empty women's restroom.

Lucia half stumbled into the bathroom, giggling and waving her arms around like a child. Still giggling, she spun to see Rose still standing by the door and watching her curiously. "What are we doing in here?" she laughed shortly.

Rose tilted her head to the side. "You wanted something stronger didn't you?"

"Well, of course–"

"Well, I didn't feel like sharing," Rose moved like lighting as she advanced on Lucia, pulling her body to her own and sinking her fangs into her throat as if she were butter.

At first, Lucia cried out and began the useless struggle they all attempted upon the initial piercing of Rose's bite. But Rose knew the exact moment when the endorphins from her bite hit. Lucia went limp in Rose's hold, a more than blissful moan escaping her lips as Rose bit down harder.

She was enjoying Lucia far more than she had enjoyed any other of her more recent kills. Perhaps it was because of the drugs, or maybe more so because of her choice in victim. Rose had a thing for killing blondes, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.

Rose was so lost in her kill, that was didn't even notice the door to the restroom opening behind her and a new guest joining them. "Having a party without me, Roza?" Dimitri chortled.

Forcing herself to detach from Lucia's neck, Rose jerked her head up to the sound of her lover's voice, but she kept her back to him. A pathetic whimper escaped Lucia as she weakly protested Rose distancing herself slightly. It wouldn't be much longer before she was dead; she was already teetering on the edge.

Rose didn't speak; she only allowed a snarl to boil deep in her belly until it vibrated out of her.

Unfazed though, Dimitri moved deeper into the restroom and toward her. He circled close; noting the way Rose clung to her victim just as an animal would its prey's carcass. The human was beyond anyone's help.

Dark red rivers of her own blood flowed over the front and back of her shoulder, staining both the hair and her clothes. She looked paler – paler than she had when Rose had first set her sights on her, and she was so weak that her own legs were barely holding her up.

Rose snarled again, shifting Dimitri's attention and locking their gazes. The moment their eyes locked, Dimitri noticed the dark gleam. It was the type of gleam he only saw when she was particularly angry or possessive. It was the kind of gleam that made it seem as if the red rings had consumed her brown eyes entirely.

From that moment, his eyes _never_ broke contact with Rose's, and for completely different reasons to her own.

Rose watched Dimitri, protecting her prey. She was never overly protective over her prey, especially when it came to Dimitri. But there were some kills that she didn't want to share under any circumstances – and this was one such instance. When Dimitri eventually took the ballsy step into the unseen circle he had created around Rose, her eyes narrowed into thin red slits and she bared her fangs more aggressively this time and snapped a bit like a rabid dog.

She was officially warning him.

Dimitri didn't care for her warning. Entranced by the vision of her and by the smell of blood swirling heavily in the air, Dimitri unconsciously reached out to her. "Just a taste?"

He swiped along her slick bottom lip, coating the pad of his thumb in a thick sheen of blood. When he brought his thumb to his mouth, Dimitri had to refrain from groaning. It was abundantly clear that Rose wasn't going to share, and that there wasn't going to anything left when she was finished with. So there was no reason for Dimitri to get his hopes up.

"By all means."

Rose didn't need telling twice. Dimitri's words had barely passed through his lips before she'd once again attacked Lucia's throat. A new bite overlapped the previous one, making Lucia moan as a new rush of endorphins once again flooded her.

Watching her while she fed, Dimitri looked over his lover covered in blood from her frenzied feeding with awe. She was truly a dark angel.

Dimitri noticed the moment Lucia realised she was breathing her last breath. Her green eyes widened for only a moment, before a breathless sigh escaped her. When she went slack in Rose's grip, she only bit down harder trying to get anything remaining out of the now dead model.

"She's dead, milaya."

Rose reluctantly released Lucia, letting her body drop to the tiled floor with an ungraceful _thud_. "I wasn't even remotely done with her though," Rose purred, licking at the corners of her mouth.

"And here I was thinking we were going on this hunt _together_?" Dimitri probed, arching a questioning brow.

Rose only shrugged as she closed the few steps between them and began walking her fingers up his chest. "You asked if I needed a distraction," she whispered, tipping her head back and shaking her hair away from her face. "Consider me distracted."

"Noted," Dimitri grumbled while his hands went for her waist. He wasn't necessarily _mad_ that Rose had chosen to go off on her own, but he had been left unsatisfied. This wasn't exactly what he had imagined when they left to hunt. "However, _I'm_ still hungry, Roza."

A long and lethal finger came up to Rose's chest, tracing the curvature of her cleavage and spreading the evidence of her kill further.

Rose inhaled a shaky breath and concealed how Dimitri's touch truly affected her. "Perhaps we can find another young human for you. You surely had your admirers out there. I'm sure they would be more than _willing_ to give themselves over to you."

"That wasn't really what I have in mind," Dimitri growled, pushing forward with Rose still close to his chest. Without a wavering gaze, Rose took a step back with every one he took forward until she hit the bench behind her holding the sinks.

Knowing each other's movements, Rose readied herself for Dimitri to lift and place her on the bench. They had become so in tune with one another that they no longer needed vocal cues. They moved with each other and even fought with the knowledge of the other's ability.

When it came to sex, they were just as in tune. Dimitri didn't need to say anything for Rose to unconsciously wrap a leg around his hip, allowing him to lift her and place her exactly where she knew he would. Rose didn't need words to arch back, opening up her neck and chest to Dimitri, knowing that he would immediately gravitate to the areas once he stepped between her legs.

As he held the back of her neck with one hand and his mouth attacked the blood covered skin of her throat and chest, his other hand pulled at the hem of her dress until it bunched up around her waist. When he was met with no barriers at all, Dimitri immediately found himself stroking her silken lips and easing two digits into her.

Dimitri growled, both to himself _and_ to Rose. With a laugh, Rose began to work on the buckle of Dimitri's belt and his zipper. It wasn't long before Dimitri's pants hung at mid-thigh and both of Rose's legs were wrapped tightly around him.

There was really no need for foreplay; there rarely was when it came to their sex. And after the show Rose had practically put on for Dimitri, he had no qualms about taking her as soon as possible.

Replacing his fingers with his cock, Dimitri groaned as he hit bottom. Her muscles twitched around him, and her body tremored as she held him.

"If I could dream, Roza," Dimitri began, taking a moment to calm himself, "it would only be of you."

Rose opened her mouth to respond, but Dimitri didn't have a bar of it. Surging forward, he claimed her mouth with his own while his hips worked their own magic. Every cry Rose gave, Dimitri swallowed with his mouth. He gave her everything he had to give, every speck of himself he poured into his thrusts. There wasn't a single moment that he held back.

Their hips slammed together so roughly that if they weren't so superiorly designed, their pelvises would have shattered on impact. Rose had to forcibly rip herself away from Dimitri, allowing her a moment to finally catch her breath. But it appeared futile.

As she attempted to catch her breath, Dimitri didn't allow her the time. Her breath came out as shallow pants and pleasure filled gasps. She didn't know what had come over Dimitri, but she fucking loved it.

Threading her fingers through his hair, Rose flicked her head to the side and exposed her neck to Dimitri. Once again, he didn't need words to know what to do. Without hesitation, Dimitri rushed forward and bit the exposed flesh. Rose cried out louder, having to dig her nails into his scalp to the point he bled.

The moment his fangs penetrated her throat, she fell apart in his arms.

Pulling back slightly from her throat, Dimitri covered the bite with his hand before it healed completely. He smeared the blood over her throat, mixing it with what remained of Lucia's blood while her entire body convulsed with pleasure.

It amazed Dimitri how something as deadly and as cruel as _his_ Roza, could become so docile in his arms. It was clear that there had been a rift in power between them. What used to be a constant battle of who was strong and smarter, had become almost a union of _both_ their strengths and smarts – all in the name of control.

Dimitri grinned as Rose scratched at him, realising that maybe Rose had been handing over more power to him than they both realised. The thought made Dimitri warm and tingly all over. Trust was hard to find in someone, especially if one possessed the drive to only achieve his or her own aspirations.

Dimitri slowed his pace for the first time and pulled away from Rose's throat entirely. He wished he hadn't.

The look in her eyes caught him off guard. She looked at him as if he were her world. It confused Dimitri; he had never seen such – _loving?_ – look in Rose's eyes before. It practically swept him off his feet! If she hadn't of had her legs wrapped around his waist, he may have even backed away from her entirely. But he couldn't move. He was sucked into the vortex of her gaze and held hostage.

When he finally couldn't prolong his own pleasure anymore, a groan mixed with both frustration and euphoria rippled from his lips. Was it possible that Rose was more than just an obsession to him? Was it possible that _he_ was more than a bottle pawn to her?

 _God! You sound so fucking pathetic,_ a voice yelled inside Dimitri. _You think she cares about anyone other than herself? She's the same as you! She doesn't care about anyone! Not even you!_

But for the first time in four months, Dimitri didn't know if he believed the voice that constantly tried messing with him.

Furious with himself, Dimitri slammed his palm into the mirror behind Roe's head, cracking it into a perfect outline of his blood-covered hand.

He needed to kill something.


	9. Chapter 9

**_The Royal Court, Pennsylvania._**

Abe's laugh could be heard all throughout the large townhouse. There wasn't a single nook or cranny under Lissa and Christian's roof that was safe from his mocking howl of laughter.

As he laughed, the other occupants of the room stared with confused expressions plastered on their face. They weren't sure what exactly had set off the laughter either, but it must have had something to do with Lissa's statement.

 _"Surely Tatiana will let me leave without a fuss,"_ – is what she had said approximately two seconds before the laughing fit had overcome Abe.

The entire room watched as Abe laughed to the point he needed to sit down. Even Pavel, his stone-faced Guardian, was trying his hardest not to let a laugh escape him.

The damage that was being done to Paris was common knowledge at Court. Rumours that the once flourishing city was now shrouded underneath a dark veil of death and fear, spread like wildfire among the gossipers at Court.

Information about who was behind the countless murders wasn't being revealed, but _what_ they were was common knowledge.

All were aware of the Strigoi ring taking Paris into their own hands, but what they knew came from news reports and articles from the human world. Tatiana and the Guardian Council had been yet to comment or elaborate on the situation.

But the Queen's reluctance to _divulge_ information should not have been mistaken for _lack_ of information. Tatiana Ivashkov was well aware of _who_ was behind these attacks, and she was determined to put a stop to them – and with Abe's arrival at Court, it would not be easy to convince their Queen that her beloved Dragomir Princess was leaving Court just for a quick _holiday_.

"My dear," Abe eventually managed, "there is no way that our beloved Queen will let you out of those wards. I'm afraid not even _I_ would be able to work that kind of magic over her."

On the other side of the room, Janine rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest in a huff.

"So, what?" Lissa scoffed. "You expect us to _sneak_ out of Court?"

Knowing exactly where this was going to go, Janine slowly sat down on the couch and hung her head in her hands. By the look of the amused grin on Abe's face, that was exactly what he had been planning.

Lissa caught onto this as well. She saw the smirk on his face and the glint in his eye as soon the moment she'd mentioned the word 'sneak'. "You can't be serious!" she exclaimed.

"It's easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, Vasilisa," Abe added with a wink to the young Princess.

From his place on the couch beside Janine, Adrian continued playing with the small silver chain in his hands before mumbling: "Like father, like daughter."

* * *

 ** _Paris, France._**

Dimitri hadn't realised just _how_ quickly Stefano could get from Italy to France.

He knew that the countries were neighbours, but he'd seriously thought that it would take Stefano longer than fourteen hours to get his bearings together and travel. And yet, there he was, lounging on Dimitri's couch with his hands behind his head and his shoes on the leather like he owned the whole goddamned place.

There was a lot about Stefano that put Dimitri on edge. It wasn't just that he was patronizing and vindictive, it was that he was also unpredictable. If one thought his Roza was a time bomb waiting to go off, they had another thing coming when faced with Stefano. It was the main reason why his lover and her creator got along so well – they both had radical plans and even _wilder_ ways of executing them.

But Stefano was more calculated. Yes, his ideas were insane, but they were also accomplished with meticulousness. He was a bit of a perfectionist per se, much like Dimitri was. Stefano had been the one to teach Rose how to properly think through her plans. She was still rash and impulsive ( _no one_ would be able to teach that out of her), but he taught her how to have control over any situation.

Stefano has been around a long time, and he brought a lot of experience to the table. He was an asset as much as Dimitri hated to admit it. But that didn't mean he liked having him around in the slightest.

There had been a few moments since his arrival that Stefano tried to initiate conversation, but Dimitri preferred not to indulge him while Rose wasn't home. Mainly because the relationship the two vampires shared was extremely volatile and scathing.

It was safe to say they hated each other – and for good reason.

Dimitri hated that Stefano got there first. He despised that Stefano had had Rose before him, and given her the gift of eternal life. Whereas Stefano believed it was Dimitri's fault that Rose never returned to Italy.

He'd gone to America to track her down but instead found her shacked up with the Russian. There weren't enough words to describe how hurt Stefano's pride was when Rose left on Dimitri's arm – and it was clear it still bothered the older vampire. Dimitri had stolen his most prized possession after all, and he _would_ eventually pay for that.

For now, Stefano found joy in aggravating Dimitri whenever he was given the opportunity.

He was a master of manipulation. He could goad anyone into doing anything, even without the use of compulsion. Rose's warning that he would do the same to him resonated strongly in the back of Dimitri's mind.

"So, Belikov," Stefano grinned over at Dimitri. "What made you choose Paris of all places?"

"Rose was getting bored," Dimitri replied, choosing his words carefully.

"Funny that," he chuffed suddenly sitting up. "She stayed in Rome for three years."

Dimitri tried his hardest not to glare at the smirk on Stefano's lips. _Remember what Rose said,_ Dimitri instead chanted to himself. _He's just trying to get a reaction._

"That she did. But once she left, she never came back as well."

"You've gotta let women do their own thing every once in a while. What's important is that I kept her _entertained_ , Belikov, for three years! You just barely managed three months!"

Dimitri's ground his jaw, trying his best to ignore the obvious attempts at provoking a reaction. But his silence only made it all worse.

Stefano leaned forward and gave a quick, condescending laugh. "Good to know our Rose took my advice and _finally_ put that leash on you."

It was a jab back to their first meeting and to the way that Rose had been able to control Dimitri. _Lapdog_ had been the exact term Stefano had used – and he knew it was his ticket to getting the reaction he so desperately wanted from Dimitri.

If Dimitri's clenched hands and his stiff jaw was anything to go by, his control was deteriorating by the second. So why not rub a little salt into the wound while Stefano was at it.

"Have you actually stopped to think and seen that everything you have now, is because of Rose's efforts?" he pressed. "This house, the club, and everything that comes with it. You only have it, because Rose went out and got it."

"We've done it together," Dimitri ground out.

It was something that Dimitri hated – someone having control over him. He had been controlled his entire life! Even _after_ his awakening when Galina had attempted to use him as some kind of a personal guard dog. But it didn't last very long before he snapped.

He wasn't a Guardian, _or_ a hound, _or_ a lapdog! He ran the show. _He_ called the shots! Rose wouldn't have even half as much power if he hadn't have been there to help her get it.

"You forget, Rose isn't much of a team player. Soon enough, she'll get what she's wanted all along from you and then she'll be gone."

"She won't," Dimitri snapped quickly – _too_ quickly.

"You sound so sure, but your wrong, Belikov. That girl is a taker. She has more ambition that anyone under this very roof."

Dimitri didn't want to listen to whatever poison Stefano was beginning to spit, but his ears perked and he just couldn't help it. He knew Stefano was still wounded by Rose leaving Italy, and subsequently, leaving him – but he also knew that Stefano would do _anything_ to get his favourite pet back.

"She left me, didn't she? And all I did was give her knowledge and skills. I gave her the life she has now, Belikov!" Stefano suddenly exclaimed standing up. "I made her into who she is today, and that _still_ wasn't enough for her to stick around."

Stefano was getting fired up now. His eyes were wide and bright, and a blinding grin replaced his smirk. He advanced slowly across the room, getting closer and closer to where Dimitri stood in the doorway.

Every time that he opened his mouth, Dimitri got angrier. At first, he thought he would be able to just swallow any retorts and just let Stefano go on his rant. But every word stung. They fuelled a fire that was beginning to burn up inside of Dimitri.

"I know it still bothers you, Belikov," he drawled lazily. "I know that you despise me because I tasted her when she was _alive_. I tasted her blood when it was warm and fresh. I don't think I've tasted better if I had to be honest with you. There is just something about a frightened Dhampir that never compares."

After that, Dimitri blacked out. He moved faster than he ever had before toward Stefano. He didn't have a chance to think about what he was about to do – he just… _reacted_. **_  
_**

* * *

**_Lehigh Valley Mall, Pennsylvania.  
(Four Years Prior)_**

Rose turned the key in the ignition yet again, scowling, as the only sound coming from the SUV was the clicking of a dead battery.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me," she growled under her breath before closing her eyes in prayer. She took a deep breath and tried the key once more – only to have the same infuriating clicking sound flow through her ears.

In a huff, Rose opened her eyes and glared at the dashboard. Staring back at her was the illuminated battery icon, red and angry because no matter how hard or how many times she turned that key; the car was _not_ going to start.

"Don't look at me like that," Rose sighed at the annoying light, leaning back into the chair and crossing her arms over her chest childishly.

After an entire day of taking Lissa shopping, Rose was _more_ than ready to get back to their residence. According to Lissa, she and Rose _needed_ to find dresses for the Politics Ball coming up in a few short weeks. It had meant they spent their entire day sifting through the shops and tending to every single retail desire Lissa had.

It was a security hazard from the beginning.

But with the sun being out on a gorgeous summer day, the possibility of a threat had felt significantly downplayed. Mason had already done the night shift, so it was only Eddie and Rose that accompanied Lissa to the mall, which they were regretting mere hours later.

"What's going on?" Eddie asked while getting into the backseat with Lissa.

"Battery is dead. We aren't going anywhere unless we can get a jump start."

Looking cautiously out of the heavily tinted windows, Rose surveyed the area. The sun was beginning to set and it had already left a majority of the car park shrouded in the shadows. But if she didn't find someone that could give them a jumpstart, they would be in a whole lot more trouble.

The mall wasn't closing until later that night, so nearing sundown, the car park was still full of cars but not with anyone leaving in them.

It was then that Rose spotted the flash of movement deeper into the car park.

Her entire body went stiff as she leaned forward over the steering wheel and let her eyes track the movements of the stranger. There was something too fluid about him. He moved almost as if he wasn't walking – but floating.

It wasn't the first time Rose thought she was seeing a ghost.

From time to time, she would see something out of the corner of her eye. It was normally just a flash of movement or just a blurry figment – but nevertheless, they always scared her.

Her eyes followed the figure carefully and watched as it seemed to stalk between the parked cars and weave towards something.

Rose could faintly hear Eddie saying her name and trying to get her attention, but she was too focused on the shadow and trying to figure out if it was even real or not.

As the figure disappeared behind an SUV, Rose seemed to detach herself from it finally. Eddie's voice came more into focus and she shook herself out of the haze she had been in.

"Rose? You okay?" Eddie asked again, placing his hand on her shoulder from behind her.

Taking a calming breath and forcing on a fake smile, Rose turned to face her guarding partner and charge whom both shared the same worried expression. But she couldn't tell them what she had seen; they would think she was crazy…or even _crazier_.

Everyone at St. Vladimir's had seen Rose deteriorate in a certain way over her final years at the academy, and it all started after the accident and when their bond had been made.

Focusing on the soft and calming features of her best friend, Rose found her forced smile relax into a very real and easy one. During the ever-beautiful 'golden hour' where the sky had turned a brilliant shade of gold, a halo of sorts had formed behind Lissa and made her blonde hair shine with power. If anyone had noticed how spooked Rose had been, it would have been Lissa for sure.

It was when she had finally relaxed into the depths of Lissa's green eyes that Rose began to feel nauseous. It wasn't the regular kind of nausea like when you got food poisoning or smell something unbelievably foul, but the kind of nausea that felt like something dark was swirling through her and making bile form in her throat. It was more like there was something dead eating away at her stomach and trying to get out.

The feeling could only mean one thing, and over the years Rose had managed to bridge a solid connection between the surges of nausea and their trigger.

Strigoi were somewhere in the car park.

A figure – which was much like that of Rose's ghosts – appeared in the cloud cover past the rear window and derailed her from Lissa completely. But the time Rose had locked on the figure, it was clear this wasn't any ghost.

The blond monster moved about the cars, clearly not in search of _their_ particular vehicle – but more so an easy meal. The stunted and slightly clumsy movements of the creature made it obvious to Rose that he had been human before being turned. It gave her a slight advantage already.

It would in no way be an _easy_ fight, but it would certainly lack the finesse needed to best a former Guardian.

But it wasn't her chances of winning Rose needed to weigh up. It was if she should leave her charge – a _Princess_ in her world – to save some poor human from the possibility of a terrible end.

All her Guardian training told her to stay with Lissa. The Strigoi had already passed their car! He hadn't even noticed that the beloved daughter to the Moroi world was only tens of meters away from him! It would be _easy_ to get Lissa out of the presented danger.

But as Rose watched him, she witnessed the moment he locked onto his target. Suddenly, all her training was overruled by her urge to protect everyone and everything from something so vile.

Hidden slightly by the shadowed section of the car park, a young woman was at the back of her car distracted while folding up a pram and loading it into her wagon's boot. She was completely oblivious to the danger that was stalking her and waiting to pounce.

Judging by the pram, there was most likely a child or tiny infant strapped into a car seat inside the wagon that would either also die that night along with his or her mother, or be left in the car until someone came across the bloody scene.

It wasn't something that Rose wanted to have happen to either counterpart – mother or child.

"Stay here with Lissa," Rose mumbled to Eddie while still following the Strigoi's movements.

She would only have a small window where she could ensure that the human remained unaware of the danger she had been in. She needed to take it now!

Eddie followed Rose's gaze, also locking onto the lurking monster and immediately tensing up. He knew how brash Rose could be and how she would often jump into her choices without thinking them through first.

 _Hunting_ a Strigoi who wasn't directly perusing the Princess was exactly what Captain Croft needed to remove Rose of her charge.

He had always shown his disdain for the young Guardian having such an important charge. He had had _zero_ intention of allowing her to become the primary Guardian for the last Dragomir.

But when the psychic bond between Lissa and Rose had become public knowledge and was brought to the _Queen's_ attention, he knew he stood no chance in having Rose assigned elsewhere.

But if Rose made the choice to _leave_ her charge and engage with a Strigoi that wasn't threatening Lissa, that could give Hans the ammo he needed.

"Rose–" Eddie began to object, but Rose was already cutting him off.

"There is a child in that car," she asserted, making it clear to Eddie of her intentions to not leave those humans helpless and doomed.

Eddie was obviously conflicted, but unlike him, Lissa knew that Rose wasn't going to change her mind and she didn't want her too. She didn't want a mother and her baby to die because a princess of a world they didn't even know existed _happened_ to be a few cars over. They didn't deserve such a dismissal, and their families didn't deserve to experience a loss like that when they wouldn't understand why.

"Go, but be careful," Lissa whispered, placing a hand on Rose's forearm and giving her a comforting smile.

* * *

Rose followed the Strigoi parallel to her through the opposite row of cars. She only had mere meters until she would lose her window of opportunity – so she took it.

With her stake drawn, Rose sprung from her concealed path and smashed her entire body into the Strigoi's side. Over the years, the one thing Rose had never been able to master was a _silent_ attack.

The quick battle cry was enough to collect the attention of both the Strigoi _and_ the human she was hoping to keep oblivious. It also meant the Strigoi was able to move out of the line of her stake at the last moment.

But the force behind her attack still sent them crashing into a nearby Honda and making the alarm cry to life. Both Rose and her opponent flinched with their superior hearing, but the Strigoi managed to gather himself before Rose could.

As quickly as the car alarm had rung, the Strigoi had wrapped a lethal hand around Rose's throat and flipped their positions – smashing her back into the car door and shattering the window underneath her.

Searing pain shot down her spine and Rose gasped in agony. The force that she had hit the window with had been enough to disorientate her for long enough that she gave her opponent a potential fatal advantage.

And he dived straight into it.

But before his fangs could even brush her skin, Rose bit through the pain and threw her elbow into his face – connecting with his nose in a crush of bone and snarl from her victim.

"Hey!"

Both Rose and the Strigoi turned at the same moment to witness the human mother walking towards them with a finger pointed towards the monster.

"You get your hands off that girl!" she yelled while making quick work of the distance between the parties.

Annoyed that he had been interrupted from a kill now _twice_ , the Strigoi let out an animalistic snarl while baring his fangs dramatically at the human. His snarl sent shivers through even Rose and brought the human to an abrupt stop.

That was _not_ what she had been expecting.

She was clearly hoping to scare off a predator from a young woman, not come face to face with something that could haunt her dreams.

The sudden image of bright white fangs and gleaming red eyes were forever _etched_ into her mind – something that was truly the embodiment of evil.

Rose could see the human was completely terrified of the man in front of her but unable to look away from him. She was trapped by his gaze and was falling deeper into the hold the red gleam possessed.

The only thing to break her free of the compulsion would be to break their eye contact. Knowing this, Rose shoved the monster away from her and then – while he was distracted – drove her stake through his chest almost effortlessly.

The human gasped in shock, covering her mouth with both her hands as she watched the man die in front of her. She didn't know what to think at that moment. Who was the real victim here? The brunette or the dead guy with… _fangs_?

She took off, scrambling back to her car and planning on getting out of there as soon as she could – to _hell_ with the pram!

Rose was too busy ensuring that she had penetrated the Strigoi's heart enough with her stake to notice the human's hasty exit.

 _That was too easy_ , Rose thought to herself while looking down at the corpse at her feet.

Rose looked up and around, never feeling that nausea actually leave her. The feeling should have left the moment she'd killed the Strigoi, but it wasn't budging. Which could only mean there was another one close by – most likely watching her.

"I told you he was dead weight," a cold voice growled from behind Rose, making her whip her entire body around to face a whole new threat.

The towering frame of her new rival was enough to make Rose's heart sink just a little. He was clearly a prior Dhampir and judging by his strong and rigid build, a Guardian as well. He was grounded and the strength pulsating off of him told Rose that while he looked as young as thirty – he could very well be decades, if not centuries old.

As quickly as he appeared out of the shadows, so did his entourage. A whole ring practically circled her and assessed her as prey anxiously.

This hadn't just been a hunt conducted by an inexperienced Strigoi.

This had been an _initiation_ hunt – and Rose was now severally outnumbered.

Six to one was _never_ good odds – no matter how experienced or skilled a Guardian was. Rose knew this wasn't going to be like the drills they went through when she was still a Novice.

If she made _one_ wrong move it would mark her death.

But there was no way Rose was going to drag Eddie and Lissa down with her if it came to that. She needed to get her charge to safety and that meant somehow convincing Eddie to leave her to fight for herself while he got Lissa back to their residence.

Mistaking Rose's motionlessness for shock, one of the female Strigoi lunged for her. But Rose hadn't been as incapacitated as they had thought. At the last possible second, she dodged her attacker and was able to drop to the floor, kicking out with her heel as she rolled back.

The Strigoi let out a roar of pain as her foot connected with the bones in her nose. While it was hardly a fatal or detrimental injury – it would be really annoying.

The others watched on while their fellow soldier tried finding the young Guardian's weakness. But it seemed that Rose was able to hold her own.

The fight became a game of tit-for-tat and was beginning to bore the other Strigoi. Rose and her opponent were just too evenly matched.

"Enough," an older Strigoi from the back growled in a heavily accented voice – taking both Rose and his soldier by surprise when he suddenly intervened.

Pushing the female out of the way, he grabbed Rose's throat tightly with both of his palms and began to squeeze. Her feet left the ground as he lifted her high and she kicked and scratched with all her strength, gasping for air and trying to hang onto any remaining tendrils of hope.

The fight inside Rose caught the interest of the monster. He had been quite impressed with her ability to hold herself during the previous fight, and even more so with her quick disposal of his newly awoken recruit. The young Guardian had potential.

Rose could see the Strigoi giving her the once over, and the feel of his eyes canvassing her made her squirm in his hands. Looking away briefly, she caught Eddie's eyes over the parked cars and gave him a pleading look. She hoped he knew what she was pleading for.

Rose could see that he looked torn. Eddie wanted to help her, but they also had a sworn duty to protect the Dragomir Princess.

But he understood what the look in her eyes was conveying.

Eddie nodded sharply at her – a silent vow to protect Lissa but also a form of goodbye. _They come first_.

Both Eddie and Rose knew the odds weren't good.

Rose watched as Eddie ripped Lissa out of the car before she had a chance to object or understand what that final nod had meant. They shared only a mere glance as Eddie had already begun dragging her through the carpark with his stake drawn.

Rose felt all of Lissa's emotions before her own. She felt Lissa's pain and her torment at leaving her friend to die, but also her regret that she didn't get to say goodbye. But it was all for Lissa. Everything Rose did was for _her_.

"Yes," the Strigoi mumbled, loosening the hold on Rose enough that she could get a few choked breaths in. "Something so small with so much fight is valuable."

Rose's face scrunched up in disgust. Valuable her ass! No way was she going to be _collected_ like some kind trophy!

Drawing her head back, Rose violently spat at her captor – showing him just how much she liked the idea of being 'valuable'.

He growled, baring his fangs and once again cutting off her air supply like it was some kind of luxury to be allowed to breathe.

"You'll have to learn some manners, however."


End file.
